Can you please share your views?

Question

Why do you think it is necessary for an elected official to have good moral character and also to be considered as someone with integrity and to be honest as well as loyal, Why are these traits necessary and how can they help bring about change in our political parties for the future?

Answer 1

If you cheat on your spouse and rationalize it, what tells me you won't "fudge" things regarding the conduct of your office? If you've "cooked the books" in your civilian business, what makes me confident you won't do the same with the people's money?
Public service is a public trust. Pure and simple.

Answer 2

Since public officials can enter into agreements which affect all of us (they can raise taxes, turn public land into a park or a toxic waste dump) we want people who are honest and look for signs in their personality that make us think that they are more likely to look out of our interests rather than their own. I am not sure what "good moral character" means or what "loyalty" is. Those terms generically are non-issues (kind of like being "anti-drug" - is there anyone who is really "pro-drug"?) but picking a candidate b/c he is loyal to his friends can be dangerous b/c it can cloud their independence and he/she may feel they over favors to their friends. If by good moral character you mean that they hold the same religious values as you do, I don't think that is important. I would much rather have an honest Muslim running my city than a Catholic priest who is a pedofile or pilfering money out of the collection plate. Good question. I will be curious to read the other replies.

Answer 3

Yea, good luck with that.....

Our elected officals have lacked those traits as far back as there has been a US government.

There were reports of drunkedness and fighting in the original congress, they used to use the windows to come and go to the Capital. Currently we have a number of criminals serving in congress.

From AskMe.com

After researching public records, newspaper articles, civil court transcripts, and criminal records, Capitol Hill Blue discovered that:
* 29 members of Congress have been accused of spousal abuse.
* 7 have been arrested for fraud.
* 19 have been accused of writing bad checks.
* 117 have bankrupted at least two businesses.
* 3 have been arrested for assault.
* 71 have credit reports so bad they can't qualify for a
credit card.
* 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges.
* 8 have been arrested for shoplifting.
* 21 are current defendants in lawsuits.
* And in 1998 alone, 84 were stopped for drunk driving, but released after they claimed Congressional immunity.


Okay, so where do you suppose you can get RICH Americans (you have to be rich to have/raise enough money to run for office... poor people can't do it) that display the traits you list? I personally believe they don't get rich in the first place displaying the traits you list.

One huge change that is needed is the removal of the two party system and the electroal college (both antiquated in the internet age of information and connectivity) and replace it with an open ticket Let-the-best-candidate-win of popular vote (like they had in California for Governor). Then people would start voting again and their vote would count for something. It would stop the World News from proclaiming who won before the polls are closed and the votes were counted. "The People" have no control over our government now, and I defy anyone to prove otherwise. It is a party system not representative of the population in the least. The only change in our future could be the collapse of our government like that of Russia because of overspending, special interests and congressional pensions that drain the coffers of the taxpayers pocketbook.


g-day!