by Pietro Sirianni

Created on: March 19, 2009   Last Updated: March 22, 2009

Our system of democratic government functions in a way that demands a higher moral standard from its elected officials. We the people elect into office the candidate that we feel will best represent us. Therefore, it is our needs and concerns that are paramount to the elected official. In theory the politician's hopes for re-election and own personal gain should be secondary to the will of his constituency. To put another person's, or group of peoples needs before one's own requires a great degree of moral turpitude that the average individual does not posses.

Moral can be defined as "concerned with or adhering to the code of personal behavior that is considered right or acceptable in a particular society." A politician should adhere to the code that we, as a society, feel is right and go above, and beyond. Some may dispute this, and point out that politicians are human like the rest of us. I rebut this by saying a good leader has the lives and welfare of many in his hands, and should therefore be better than average in all aspects. Mediocrity should not be the calling card of any leader.

The consequences of a politician not having a higher moral standard can be disastrous. For example, a politician has been elected into office by a community thats main source of revenue is the production of energy producing wind mills. The wind mills have become quite popular in the region. The facility that produces the windmills is on state owned land and the lease is almost up. The regional energy company has noticed a sharp drop in sales and has become aware of two things: 1) The regional use of windmills is hurting its bottom line tremendously. 2) The windmill production facility's lease is almost up and there is nowhere else in the region they can go. The electric company sends officials to offer the politician massive campaign contributions and other "perks" if he uses his position to make sure the windmill facility's lease is not renewed.

If the politician in this example does not have a higher moral standard than the average citizen he may be tempted to accept the electric company's bribe. A whole community would lose its livelihood. Alcoholism, depression, suicide, and crime would all raise in the community. If the politician is of higher moral character then the community that elected him will continue to prosper under his leadership. With power comes great responsibility, not every person is able to handle the burden and avoid the temptations. Our politicians must be able to, it is a job prerequisite and the difference between success as a nation or failure.

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