by Dr. Deborah Bauers

Created on: March 22, 2009   Last Updated: March 26, 2009

Should politicans be held to a higher moral standard than the average American citizen? If the answer is "yes," then are we expecting our country's leaders to have greater moral integrity than you or I? Is it possible that what we really mean, is that politicians should be held more highly accountable for their moral conduct than you or I? These are puzzling questions to answer and before we do so, we need to define some key terms and gain a better understanding of just what the moral climate of our country looks like right now.

In order to consider whether politicians should be held to a higher moral standard, we must first define, "moral". The current climate in this country is one of "moral relativism." This means that our culture defines "morality" not as an absolute, but as a standard of right and wrong that changes, depending upon its context. In other words, a certain population might judge the morality of a particular behavior, not in the traditional sense, but based upon the prevailing attitudes that it is continually exposed to. If we subscribe to this meaning, then the standard of morality is not anchored in the idea that "wrong" and "right" is an unchanging norm, but in what the majority will tolerate.

That brings us to the question, "If politicians are to be held to a higher moral standard," whose standard should they be judged by? A traditionalist will likely suggest that a politician, as a leader, should not be guilty of drug abuse, sexual immorality or graft. But if we look at society's attitudes toward morality, the present political climate is becoming immune to feelings of disbelief or disgust that were once associated with allegations such as sexual misconduct while in political office. Eventually, society will become acculturated by the number of political indiscretions served up by the media to an audience who is, at that moment, already redefining its standard of morality because of its new acceptance of immoral behavior.

John Wesley was a visionary who was ahead of his time when he wrote, "What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace." In other words, if society ignores the immoral activities of our politicians, we will one day divorce a politician's personal life from his political life. We will do this because we will have moved beyond "tolerating" into "accepting" sexual immorality in the lives of those who hold public office. This is illustrated in the frequently heard comments like, "Politician and moral standard?

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