Should elected officers be morally superior throughout their lifetimes?

Question

If you think they should or should not be, give me some arguable reasons

Answer 1

Since they are public figures and held in high regard even after they retire then they should be held to a higher moral standard. That is because it is part of being a politician.

Except for movie and TV stars and a few super models no other type of people are seen more in the media and followed by the news than politicians. The life of a politician depends on name reorganization so they WANT this attention, it is part of their job and it is what keeps them in the public eye. It also serves as a base for the campaign funds they can raise and their political clout. Part of this need for public support means that they should be held responsible to fill those needs as best as they can. Part of those needs is to set a good public example

Would Jimmy Carter's Habitat for Humanity Program have gotten such a start if he had remained a peanut farmer? Would he have been sent on diplomatic missions if he hadn't been a famous President who brokered the most important peace agreement in the Middle East? As a one term President he wasn’t the best, but he did fill some important needs and saw our nation through a time of crisis, after the problems of the Nixon Administration.

Even when retired he has done a lot good service for this nation. He has the respect that is due any former president, but unlike some he has used that respect to continue to make a major impact. He may not have been the best President, but he is certainly one of the best Former Presidents this nation has seen. He has always held himself to a high standard and continues to do so. Part of that is because he holds such a respected position. You don't see the Democratic Party running to him for aid, you see the entire nation doing that.

Fred Thompson, the actor who plays as the Chief Prosecutor on Law and Order is a former national politician from Kentucky. There is now serious talk about having him run for President. If he had left political office and become a slimy used car salesman who cheats his customers, or some other form of lowlife he would not be in serious consideration. Because he has continued to live a life with high standards he is a serious possible candidate. When he agreed to act on Law and Order a political career was the furthest thing from his mind. If he announced his candidacy for any office he would be fired the next minute (this may be one reason he hasn’t announced yet, the other may be that he is just not ready for all the scrutiny).

Politicians that turn into criminals have ended their political career; the public will never trust them in office again. This is proper and just, it is also because they have to be held to a higher standard. If a similar person commits a white crime, like Martha Stewart did, then they can return to public and try to repair their image. Martha Stewart may be almost as loved as Oprah, but Ms. Stewart would never make a good political candidate, her criminal past would disqualify her. She can put enough doubt on her true intent to remain a celebrity, but she needs a clear innocence to be considered a candidate with a real chance to win.

Few celebrities would make as good a candidate as Fred Thomson would. Tom Cruise will get his superstar status back as soon as he stars in another blockbuster movie, but his behavior will never let him be considered a serious political candidate. He hold our politicians to a much higher standard, and we do that because we have to. We give our politicians power, and with high office it is a lot of power and we have to trust them to wield that power fairly and honorably.

The Governor of Texas recently declared a law that all school age girls should be inoculated with the serum that prevents some kinds of cervical cancer. At first this sounds like a great idea and I supported it. The legislature could never pass a law like it because they would get ensnarled in the issue of sex among teenagers. Because the virus is sexually transmitted some people theorize that if the girls feel protected they will engage in more sex. The two issues are only tenuously connected and it can be easily and truthfully said that this injection protects the women against only one specific form of a sexual disease so the risk of early or unprotected sex is still very high. The injection should have no connection with a person’s morals. If the girl gets the injection or not her attitudes about sex are set by her family and her community (church, school etc). So it would take a lot of political wrangling to get a law like this passed.

Then it came out that Governor Perry owned a lot of stock in the company that makes that drug. Since the company still holds a patent on the drug only they can produce it and the Governor’s order would make them rich, especially if it was carried nation wide. Now the Texas Legislature is looking into the case and it is highly probably that the law will never go into effect. We hold our politician’s to a high standard and using his office to make more money for himself is not something that should be accepted. If a CEO tried to do this and was found out to be connected to the company in a way that would get him rich then we would suspect his motives, but it will not be enough to remove that CEO from his office. I don’t think that Governor Perry will be impeached, since he never got any profits from the decision and because no crime was committed. It will be a political mark against him and it will come back to haunt him if he runs for Governor again. Smaller issues have kept politicians out of offices that they would otherwise be qualified for.

We see politicians more, we trust politicians more, and we entrust politicians with more power than any other people. We should be able to hold them to a high moral standard because of this.

Answer 2

Why should they? They certainly make no efforts to be morally superior while they are in office, or even when they are running for office.

Thank you. I'll be here all week.

Answer 3

NickDang...you are freaking hysterical......Good answer buddy! ROFL!

I needed that laugh...thanks!