by Roger Grant

Created on: March 18, 2009

The simple answer is yes. Yes, they should be held to a higher moral standard. The not so easy questions is how can we hold them to it and why should they be expected to take the moral high ground.

The question of morality is intrinsically linked to the quality of human relationships and is the foundation of how we conduct our activities with one another. This is basically an issue of are we dealing from a point of honesty or dishonesty? The answer to this sets the tone of and determines the result of all our interactions.

There is a passage in the "Good Book" found in the new testament where the Teacher warns his disciples to "be aware of the yeast of the pharisees which is hypocrisy". The pharisees at this time in Jerusalem were the local political power under the Roman government and were expected to take care of matters relating to their Jewish community. Lets examine this sentence "the yeast of the pharisees which is hypocrisy". Yeast is an agent used in baking to swell the dough and hypocrisy is the act of saying one thing then doing the opposite. Politicians then and politicians now are one and the same and play the same game.

We find that most politicians with a tiny few exceptions (the ones with an active conscience) do not have morality at the top of their wish list. Politics is the business of winning elections and the ones who want to succeed endeavour to win "at all cost". I heard a very interested phrase on a documentary I was watching and it said "America has the best democracy that money can buy".So we see that the "yeast of the pharisees" is not an anomaly in political circles but is a virus that is caught by nearly all public servants due to nature of the game. Most are puffed up with a sense of their own importance and is also more than willing to outright lie to the public if it means the difference between winning and losing and will also make outrageous promises which they humanly cannot fulfill and did not intend to honour in the first place.

The fact that politics is dirty is no secret. The scandals , double dealings, assassinations and phony wars are well documented. There is also the economic collapse that hits close to every home presided over by our current and former crop of politicians. The all corrupting influence of big money in politics is the fruit of an adulterous relationship between our elected leaders and the captains of industry. But why!. Its because they the politicians are a product of society. Just like our sports stars, our business men and the Hollywood establishment etc. Notice that most politicians are lawyers(who don't rate too high on the honesty scale).

The truth of the matter is that ambition in our society is valued over service. So the question of should our politicians be held to a higher moral standard only means something if society itself is willing to hold up the mirror of scrutiny and makes a determination to change the rules of the game.

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