Kurt Luchs -- Things Politico and Frodo

First Things' On the Square today features humorist Kurt Luchs offering humorous but quite lucid and serious considerations on power, politics and the lessons that can be drawn from The Lord of the Rings. His analysis is entitled Frodo in a World of Boromirs. Read one excerpt here; then go read it all here.

It is no longer shameful to lust after power so long as one lusts for the good
of the people. In the words of Boromir, speaking of the One Ring, “For you seem
to think of its power only in the hands of the enemy: of its evil uses not of
its good.” The only rejoinder, in Frodo’s words to Boromir, is that “we cannot
use it, and what is done with it turns to evil.” Yes, it’s that simple. And as
you ascend the levels of authority, from city to state to nation, it only
becomes more true.