The editor's of the New Republic, suggested the following questions; Will such be-havior
affect performance on the job ? For example, the book makes references to drunken
legislators conducting the nations business on the floor three sheets to the wind. In
this case, the good senators judgment would obviously be somewhat impaired. Therefore he
would not be performing the job that he was appointed to do. The public, in my opinion
has the right to know.
Next, the editors asked if public disclosure was warranted if the law broken ? In my
opinion, if the law, any law, was broken by an elected official, then the American public
has a right to know. For example, in the case of former Washington DC Mayor, Marion
Bairy If it had not been for the press, who knows how long, or the extent to which a
cover up would have gone on.
If the public is being lied to seems to also be a criteria for which I would advocate
public disclosure. When the news hit the fan about the Iran-contra controversy, and that
Olli North lied before the judiciary committee, the press was absolutely justified in
printing the information it had attained. Again, who knows how long the cover-up would
have lasted.
Lastly, if the office makes special demands, then a certain right to know coincides with
it. I believe that a president should act like a president. The public has expectations
of its elected officials, and they have a duty to meet them.
I feel that it isn't possible to separate public morality from private, because in a
way, they are both the same thing. In a democracy, the private person elects the public
official. Society must have standards, and those standards must be dictated from that
society. Not from any one man or elected body.
However if it were possible to separate the two, I think it would be note worthy step.
But I don't see that happening any time soon in our culture. Our morality is our safety
net, and I think we like it right where it is...in the hands of the majority.
I think that it would affect someone's conduct as a public official if they were not
truthful. Public official or not, not telling a lie may be the stuff of morals in
childhood fables, but I recently recall where an incident where a high level executive
of a major, international company told a lie while under oath and cost his company over
eight million dollars in fines.
Also I would like to see a code of morals of some sort in any elected official. I know
that's a little vague, but not having some kind of common sense, basic, know the
difference between right and wrong , type of element would definitely constitute a
character defect in my opinion.
Lastly, not having a vision of some sort, a passion if you will, for what they do would
also make up a character flaw. Public office is an important job, it should be treated as
such. I feel that unfortunately a lot of politicians are just "burnt out."
#2
If there were no affirmative action programs, I believe that the merit system, as
ap-plied in hiring, promotions, and school admissions would not be applied, however, I
wouldn't quite describe it as injustice "rampant". Maybe more along the lines of
extensive and abstruse. I agree with the observance made by the dean of faculty at
Amherst College as mentioned in the text; " ...I have become aware of pervasive residues
of racism and sexism, even among those whose intentions and conscious beliefs are
nondiscriminatory...I believe that most of us are afflicted with such residues." It would
be these "residues' that would hin-der any such merit system. People may have good
intentions, however when we speak of the undertones of racism, we're touching upon the
things that you and I do every day without ever knowing it. For example, the Michael
Harrington article on "The New American Pov-erty" mentions how suburbanization is
removing the middle class from daily contact with the poor. As proponents of Affirmative
Action programs will no doubt tell you, our very neighborhoods are designed to keep the
poor out. With that in mind we can now ask our-selves " who are the poor ?" The blacks.
The Hispanics. The single women. The very peo-ple Affirmative Action speaks of.
Therefore, if the merit system can't really be applied to "truths we hold to be self
evident", ( the virtue and integrity we hold in our social structure), then how are we
to have faith in it when it applies to things that aren't as morally clear ?
To obtain a greater "fairness" in competitive opportunity, our society needs to enact
laws that would allow for fair and just employment policy making, such as affirmative
ac-tion. I feel that job quotas need to be filled. The work place contains the residuals
of racism carried over from its history. For example, in the resent press there where
claims of dis-crimination against Denny's Restaurant chains of promoting managers
based on race.
Also, school systems should mandate multi-cultural curriculum to help eliminate
ig-norance and undue stereotypes. I think that the text books could be written more
appropri-ately, without wearing there "political correctness" on their selves.
Lastly, and most importantly, we need to reflect upon the break down of our family
value systems. I feel that it is the root of most of the problems we face today. Why
aren't parents teaching their children about the ugliness of racism. We need to build
these values in our children.
#3
Government, business, and the individual all have a role when it comes to the wel-fare
of the poor. All three should not be held responsible as caretaker, parent, or
guardian, but as a member of the humane race. I believe that their is a certain standard
which we must be held accountable for. In so far as I can tell, we're not there yet.
On the governmental level, there is a responsibility to do all that is in the scope of
it's power. Some answers may lie in tax breaks for low income families, programs that
would build jobs opportunity, instead of reduce it. Certainly a balanced budget would
help free up funds that would be spent on paying off debt to be allotted towards
revamping the Federal welfare system.
Business might look at whether or not its putting back into the community what its taking
out. Again, possible funds might be freed up to help reform the system. Business leaders
might ask themselves whether or not there doing enough to provide jobs. Does
pro-ductivity outweigh moral responsibility ?
Most importantly, the individual needs to ask themselves this question; " When is enough,
enough ?" Why do so few people hold so much of the resources ? When will it end ? We
need to make sure that we never forget that every hand helps.
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