Morality and Politicians

December 23, 2001

by Charles E. Perry

I got into a discussion with a Clinton defender the other night in a chat room, and I was amazed by what they said. I was called a "Nazi" because I said that adultery was a valid reason to impeach an elected official, and that I was pleased when any proven adulterer, liberal or conservative, had to leave office.

Politics is all about trust. When you come right down to it, the only thing a politician has to sell us is his word. Will a politician, once in office, do what he told us he would do, or will he not? Keeping his word is the mainstay of any elected official, and that’s why character matters in a politician.

So here we have a politician, his party affiliation is irrelevant to me, who cheats on his wife. What value does his word really have? Your spouse is, supposedly, the person you love and care for more than anyone else in the entire world. Your spouse is supposed to become a part of you, your other half. Now, if you don’t keep your word to the person you allegedly love more than anyone else in the entire world, a person who is supposed to be your life long mate, then what assurance do we have that you will keep your word to the rest of us? None, so far as I can see.

I asked the Clinton defender that question time and time again, and never got an answer. I was told that it had no relevance to the job he did, but it goes to the very heart of the job he was supposed to do. Clinton was elected on the basis of his word, on what he promised the American people. Yet he could not keep his word to his own wife. So what assurance did he have that he would keep his word to us? None.

Folks, character matters, and how you treat your spouse is a good indicator of your character. It is past time that Americans demanded a higher standard of morality from our elected officials. These are people who are given a great deal of power, and why on Earth would we want someone of questionable moral standards to have such power? It should be a rule: you get caught cheating on your spouse, you leave office, period, end of sentence.

I’ve had enough of moral relativism. It stinks. It gives us corrupt elected officials. It gives us bad government. If your spouse cannot trust you, than neither can the American people, and it’s wrong of you to ask us to do so. It does matter if you cheat on your spouse. It matters because it tells us you are a person unworthy of our trust, and trust is what a politician sells.

And I’m tired of being told that Christian values are passe too. Christian values created this country, and sustained it through most of its history. Abandoning those values will destroy it. Oh, there will be something left behind that calls itself the United States of America, but it won’t be the nation we know and love. It will be a pale shadow of that nation, unworthy of our respect and allegiance.

Character matters. Remember that when you go to vote. Don’t vote for the moral relativists. Vote for those with values and standards. What killed Rome was abandoning the values that made Rome great. It can kill our nation just as easily.

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Charles E. Perry is a freelance writer living in Michigan. He has done a variety of things in his life, including Ward Supervisor at the State of Michigan's Maximum Security Mental Facility. His degree is in accounting, but he discovered writing and now spends his time hunched over a keyboard, hollow-eyed, looking for just the right word. Perry is the author of "How Government Should Work: A Look at the Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States," currently pending publication.

Send the author an E mail at Perry@ConservativeTruth.org.

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