Yet another cabinet member from the George W. Bush White House has penned a book that, in essences, draws inferences into an administration with a bent toward the political versus the ethical.

If former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is to be believed, then threat levels, often thought to have been raised by the Bush administration for some type of political gain, were manipulated more by polls than menace.

And why shouldn’t we believe Ridge. After all, he’s of the same party, resigned under no prodding from Bush or his political cronies and has continued to be a man of solid character.

In other words, we see no ax he has to grind with Bush or his follow cabinet members.

At least on the surface, it appears as if Ridge is using his book to come clean about thoughts he had regarding the threat levels, particularly as it pertained to the 2004 presidential election.

In his book, Ridge indicates that pressure from fellow Cabinet members to raise the nation’s terror alert level just before that election helped convince him it was time to resign his post.

The former cabinet member says in that book that despite urging from then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft he objected to raising the security level.

Ridge’s words merely reflect Democratic allegations from 2004, many who said at the time that the Bush Administration was using the security levels as a political tactic to win favor with the American people.

In truth, it does seem that every time the threat level was raised and the president spouted off reassurances to the masses, his poll numbers increased.

Could be coincidence,, but one would have to wonder.

Ridge’s thoughts should make us wonder more.

There is no solid proof that threat levels were raised only as part of a political game, but Ridge’s assessment certainly sheds more light on an administration rift with secrecy.

While tell-all books are often the fodder disgruntled former staff members use to get back at those they have worked for, albeit it unhappily, we somehow don’t think Ridge is among them.

But rather than dissect Ridge’s intent, the general public should weigh his words and consider their implications.

As the people who lift individuals into omnipotent roles in government, we should be warned yet again, that giving them too much power without questioning their motives and overseeing what they do, we could be giving them free reign to take this country into places we should never tread.

If, in fact, the Bush administration used the threat of terror to lift its own political ratings, there should be serious consequences that show them — and all those who come after them — that type of behavior will not be tolerated by solid American citizens.