Morality is a big deal in Politics

Honest Abe: He always tried to be a moral politician
As a lawyer he never took a casethat he did not believe in.

In politics today a lot of people want to set morality aside and overlook the immoral lifestyles of today’s politicians.  So what if Obama grew up a Muslim and went to a radical black liberation theology church for twenty years.  So what if Obama’s preacher, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, said “God damn America”.  So what if Obama admitted to using hard illegal drugs like Cocaine.  So what if Obama broke dozens of campaign promises and lies to the American people on a regular basis.  Hey it is politics, and we overlook some of the sleaziest things when “our guy” is guilty of immoral behavior.   

My newest pet peeve is this idea that “it’s politics; so of course they are going to say what they need to say in order to get elected”.  Hillary Clinton embraced this point when she told Tunisia to ignore campaign rhetoric.   Essentially, she told the world not to pay attention to America’s leaders because we are a bunch of liars.  After hearing that do you think that the Arab world believes us when we say that America is not at war with Islam?  The lack of morality and accountability is unacceptable in today’s politics.  I realize that most of our politicians are lawyers that are trained to lie in order to get their way in court.  That doesn’t mean that we have to look the other way while we are lied to in politics.  The government expects us to trust our leaders to make decisions that are in the best interests of the American people.  I have absolutely no trust in this government.  They don’t give me any reason to trust them, and I am not alone. 

The government gives us unemployment numbers and forecasts that do not represent reality.  We have stimulus packages that only stimulated debt and the pockets of crony capitalists that “invest” in candidates.  We also have a healthcare bill that very few people wanted, but everyone has to pay for.  We have representatives that do not represent the people, because they are too busy representing their party.  This is evident during the townhall meetings before healthcare when several congressmen refused to face their constituents’ opposition to their votes.

You might be wondering how bad political decision making is linked to morality.  There is a direct link between the two.  If a politician lives his personal life with a me-first attitude, then of course he is going to bring that same attitude with him into politics.  Most of the people that we are electing into political office are political opportunists.  They have lied their whole lives, and put political agendas and big money donors before the people that they are supposed to be serving.  Their consciouses have been seared with a hot iron, and they do not see a problem with politics as usual.  Many of them preach family values, yet they live their lives completely different than they preach.  I am not just talking about the Democrat party here, I am talking about all of our politicians. 

The sad thing about this situation is that people look in the mirror and forgive the mistakes of our leaders.  People think that politicians are entitled to a second chance because many of us have fallen victim to the same mistakes as our leaders.  I pointed out Newt Gingrich’s three wives, and someone told me that I have obviously never been divorced.  This man was justifying Gingrich’s behavior which led to two failed marriages because it reflected his own past.   The difference is that this man is not running for President of the United States.  What the man that I was talking with does with his life is his business.  What you do with your life is your business, but what a President of the United States did in his life is everyone’s business.  I don't want my president to be my intellectual and moral equal.  I want someone that is better than me to serve as the president of the United States. 

We have 300 million people in this country.  Can’t we set the bar a little higher than it is currently set?  I don’t want to have a beer with the president.  I don’t want my president to be Joe Blow the taxi cab driver.  I want the best of the best to lead our country.  I don’t want to simply measure his intellectual capacity; I want to know that our leader is has a constant focus on morality.  Not a focus like Bill Clinton, who lied about his morality in order to protect his image.  I want a person of moral character that is proud of the life that he lives.  A man that wants to serve the American people out of a sense of duty, not as a sense of opportunity.

Have you ever heard the term evil genius?  It is about time that we stop placing smooth talkers, guys that we want to have a beer with, and evil geniuses into positions of power.  We need to start electing men of high moral character that can get the job done.  How much is trust worth to you?  I would like to trust the government to serve me for a change wouldn’t you?  Until America raises its expectations and demands to a certain level of morality in politics, we will continue to be lied to and misrepresented by politicians.  We need to stop defending liars and hypocrites on the political stage if we want some real hope and change in America.  The support of the lesser of two evils is getting old.  I don't want to put my support behind anyone that is evil, even if he is less evil than the other guy.  It is about time for Americans to start to insist that we have men of high character to lead our nation.

© American Wing 2012