by Kevin Noonan

Created on: March 23, 2009   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

Is it reasonable to expect those who are elected or appointed to political office to behave any differently than the population they serve?

As an American, I find the obsessive hand-wringing that occurs in the wake of political scandal a curious spectacle. At exactly what point during the transition from private to public life do my fellow Americans believe the newly-elected politician climbs the Mount of Transfiguration to transcend the common humanity?

Our founders wisely dispensed with the historical practice that relied on bloodline, status, or divine appointment to dictate the selection process of those who would lead the nation. Instead, the people chosen where just that: the people, chosen by the people. Regretfully, not long after Washington refused coronation and the likes of Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams began to pass into that realm where their protestations could no longer interfere, Americans quickly warmed to the placement of the founders' amid the divine pantheon. And so we missed the point entirely.

Contained in our unfortunate need to elevate leaders to sacred status are the tools we use to blind ourselves to their humanity. Once we've placed these former humans at the prescribed altitude, they are then out of reach. Consequently, any sins committed (by Jefferson or Lincoln, for example)are dismissed as insignificant creating moral and ethical dilemmas where none need exist; and all subsequent contenders for political office are held to the impossible expectation that they must be the next Jefferson or Lincoln.

Our expectations create an environment of impossibility. A politician must suddenly attain a perfection we all want to believe exists but have a wealth of examples, both historical and personal, confirming our misguided understanding of "perfection." We are shocked when the newly-elected do not fulfill campaign promises, but fail to recognize that we are the ones responsible for the politicians telling us the lies we want to hear. That responsibility extends to our reaction to the moral failures that all politicians will commit.

In Act IV of The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare says that mercy "is an attribute to God himself, and earthly power doth then show likest God's when mercy seasons justice." Americans have a very singular comprehension of justice; how odd in a nation that takes great pains to demand the recognition of its religious heritage. Conveniently misplaced, then, is the central message spoken by the Jew from Nazareth. How sad it is that very little mercy can be found among human beings _for_ other human beings from sea to shining sea.

Once again it comes back to that Jew from Nazareth: No one should be held to a moral standard higher than the one we demand and adhere to ourselves. It has always been easiest to pick up the first stone to be cast. However, if we have any sense of personal integrity and character (only the measure of a mustard seed is needed), then we can never forget that just like us, the ones we place in political office are nothing more or less than human beings.

That sound you just heard? That was the sound of a stone hitting the ground after having fallen from my open hand.

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