Political Ethics?

To All the Conniving, Backstabbing, Hypocritical Politicians That Infest Our Society



America was founded on the principal that government should be a fair, upstanding organization in which people put the better good before their own personal gain. While the ideal was solid, the execution was lacking. George Washington, many say, could have ruled as a king after the War of Independence. He could have stepped in as the Julius Caesar of the Modern era. Nay, he retired to quiet Mount Vernon to live out his years in peace. Only later did he reluctantly take on the role as president. Today, one would be hard pressed to uncover a soul similar to that of the honorable Washington.

Today’s government is based on ideals such as greed, selfishness, and separation. Corruption spreads as an incurable cancer through the ranks of Senators and Representatives. In the rare case a level head proposes a bill that has fine moral standing, the constant and unrelenting bickering between the two “parties” will surely drag it into the quagmire of modern politics. Politicians are quick to step on someone else in order to elevate themselves. The key word in the former phrase? “Themselves”. An ego saturated with self-centered priorities disable any right thinking.

If a world crisis was to unfortunately sweep the globe, politicians could be counted upon to do one thing. Blame the other party, or the other critic, or the other Branch as the cause. When a cure, or a haven, or a failsafe finally came along, the same ones will be quick to stand on their national soapbox and proudly proclaim how they and they alone single-handedly, without assistance, saved our existence. If a decision from the other party goes awry, the opposites will be sure to throw the limelight on the error, to enlarge the scale of any atrocity. But when they commit a similar failure, it is quickly downplayed to a non-issue. In today’s government, it’s not “all for one and one for all”. Far from it. More like “Every man for himself”.

Must any man that rises to power horribly disfigure it? Must every loophole or gap swiftly be taken advantage of? Must kindness, moral values, and ethics be discreetly swept under the proverbial rug? With today’s corrupt governors, it is unfortunately so.

My advice to you described so truthfully above? Get over yourselves. Put your petty differences, your unimportant self-standing aside. Have you forgotten why one runs for a government position? So that one can improve not one’s own standing, but to assist the country as a whole rise to it’s feet. Republicans? Why not attempt to work with Democrats, and vice versa? Is the other party so horribly nauseating? Are they some sort of unworthy aliens? Are they lower then you? Do they lack something you have gained? You are all brothers, you have all been called for the same, singular purpose: to rightly guide America through certain and uncertain time alike. Politics? The term should not even need to be used. Money not only inflates costs, it inflates egos. Politicians, are those hundreds of thousands of bills clouding your minds? Do they hover before your eyes, making judgment impossible? Do they erode away your conscience, your moral values? I highly doubt so. When you debate an article, do so without personal strikes. When you propose a bill, do so without any personal vendettas. You have become the very thing your ancestors revolted against. Does the line, “they have the right, they have the duty, to throw off such governments, and provide new guards for their future security” sound familiar? Or have America’s leaders never even glanced over the documents that guide her?

I plead with you, please put America and her people first. Think not of yourselves, but of the greater community. If you are so obsessed with public opinion, try doing something for the greater public. Who knows, you may have to dip into your own bloated pockets. But morals, and ethics, the sense of community that strides alongside a democracy should never have to bear witness to what it was seen in recent years. My advice to you: think not of yourselves, but of others. Our country would be better off for it; isn’t that the ultimate goal?



-A Member of the Gas House Gang