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| Yes | 81% | 73 votes | Total: 90 votes | |
| No | 19% | 17 votes |
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Add to FavoritesToday, using the word political and moral in the same sentence doesn't happen very often. More often we couple the words politics with immoral. Whether people were immoral in the past, I cannot say for sure, but I know our newspapers and airways are full of news about this politician and that getting "caught" with their pants down so to speak.
Whether it is tax evasion, selling political seats, illicit liaisons, or any other immoral, dishonest act or failure to act, we have a politician that fit's the bill. So, what happened that our political venue has become so corrupt? Was it always that way? Or, did "power corrupt and absolute power corrupt absolutely?" The speaker of this quote, Lord Acton, knew that human beings tend to lean toward immorality and corruption if left to their own devises without someone to keep them in check.
Our founding fathers knew this as well. They tried to set up a government and a constitution in which no one had absolute power and all were checked and balanced by one another. Little did they know that even that would eventually lead to corruption with behind the scenes dealings, schizophrenic party ideals, and judiciary law making, to say the least.
In all fairness, I have to say that morals, in and out of politics, seem about as decayed and smelly as they can get. We live in a world of political correctness, where freedom of speech gives way to freedom from objection and "insult; we live in a world of "tolerance" in which we tolerate everything but those who try to impose a sense of morality upon us; we live in a world of freedom to do anything we want except expect others to accept any but their own code of morality.
Our world, political and otherwise, has become so immoral that the only thing they don't think people should be allowed to do is be moral. After all, if I see you behaving in a moral fashion, I may become upset and feel guilty about my own behavior. Heaven forbid! The only way certain factions, especially in the political arena, can feel good about themselves is to make sure no one speaks against what they choose to do.
Maybe I just have a negative view of the world, but in my 50 years of life, I have seen some amazing things take place. Even 20 years ago, before the indoctrination in our schools of the new tolerance, people went to jail for less. But now many turn a blind eye to a political (or other) figures moral character. So he didn't pay his taxes, so she lied about what she knew and when she knew it, so he, and so on.
This process is seen clearly today as President Obama (and others before him) attempts to assign people to office. It doesn't seem to bother him if they have character flaws, such as tax evasion, lying, or socialist leanings, and those it does bother are considered troublemakers at best and traitors at worst.
Morals exist for a reason. If a society is to function, it must agree on a certain code of conduct which all must follow. Will the day come when murderers walk away with no consequences? Immorality, or social deviance, leads to a world in which people care about themselves only and attempt to serve self rather than society. In the end, an immoral society will implode from within if it is not destroyed from without.
So what can we do about it? First, we can look to improving our own moral character. Second, we can hold our politicians accountable for their actions by how we cast our vote and by making our voice heard on capital hill through phone calls, petitions, e-mails, letters or protests. When we as a society remain silent in the face of immoral or amoral politicians, we become complicit in their lack of morals. We must not give away our voice, for if we do, our every freedom will follow, and soon our lives will be in the hands of self-seeking politicians and our country, as we have known it, will no longer exist.
Learn more about this author, Angela S. Young.
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No
In order to believe that political morals are decaying, one must first believe that there was a time in which the field of politics had some level of morality associated with it. In truth, the term "political morality" is something of an oxymoron. Politics has always suffered from a dearth of moral behavior.
In fact, given the free flow of information in our modern age, the political arena is probably as moral as it has ever been, since politicians now find it more difficult to bury their indiscretions. The fact that we hear about scandal after scandal among the political elite does not indicate that bad behavior is on the rise, though it can certainly create that illusion. Rather, it indicates that such behavior is making it more easily into the domain of public knowledge. In an age in which anyone with an Internet connection can communicate instantly to the entire planet, hush money can only go so far.
There has never been a time in human history during which politics was anything other than a game of backstabbing, treachery, double-crossing, and generally unwholesome behavior. In days past, murder was a reasonable means by which one could acquire power and authority over entire nations. Wars have long been waged for little more than political gain. The politics of Rome were much more corrupt than anything in our modern society. If one argues that political morality is decaying, I must ask: decaying from what? It is difficult to fall to the floor if you are already lying on it.
The perception of moral decay in general is one I have long found interesting. Societal norms and mores shift constantly, yet we as individuals are relatively stagnant in our moral inclinations. The rules we learn as children are seared into our minds, and we tend to perceive societal change as decay, even when it is actually simple lateral movement or even improvement. An affront to the values of one generation may be accepted or even encouraged by the next (and vice versa).
The idea that there is some unchanging universal and timeless set of morals is, frankly, laughable to any student of humanity. Even the supposedly set-in-stone laws of the various religions are constantly reinterpreted to fit current needs; people find reasons to ignore the outdated ones and emphasize the ones relevant to more modern concerns.
Given that, though, the practice of politics has never respected any set of morals or values, at least not beyond the level of necessity in order to achieve political ambitions. It has always been ruthless, filled with Machiavellian machinations and strategic posturing. To expect that to change is nave, but to expect it to get worse is to be in denial of how bad it already is. It can only get worse insofar as there can be new ways of being the very worst relative to the prevailing morals. It can always be counted upon to occupy that position.
Learn more about this author, Chris Torgersen.
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