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Community Problem Report
Political ethics
Jon A. Leeah
11/2/10
Abstract 2
My research paper “Community Problem Report” contains information obtained from several different sites, journals, and books relating to my topic of political ethics. The sites, journals, and books i used were written by credible authors making the information reliable. The articles used, all contained facts and gave several examples on how elected officials neglect to up hold their ethics. The purpose of this essay is to show others how these officials do not up hold their ethics which plays a major factor on our life.
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Political ethics affect us wether they are being enforced or not. They play a major roll on the daily life of a citizen. When enforced they can beneficial to us where as, when they are not being used, detrimental to our everyday life which is why people should be knowledgeable on the subject . After researching several different resources on the topic i was able to accomplish this showing the viewer multiple incidents where they neglected to up hold their ethics, as well as exhibiting them.
One author who writes about politics wrote an article on the website FactCheck.org pertaining to political ethics. Viveca Novak has written several different articles on the subject of politics winning her a couple of prestigious awards, making her work very credible. In this particular article she writes on the Republican and Democratic party both failing to up hold there ethics. She presents her argument by giving a visual representation created by the Republicans, giving a small amount of information on the democrats not upholding their ethics after a fellow democrat Nancy Pelosi stressed that the democrats would make “the most ethical and open congress in history”.(The Dems Unethical Embarrassments, Novak 2010) The visual is then followed by text going into detail about those cases as well as several incidents where the Republicans have failed in excresing their ethics as well. For Example, Republican representative Jerry Lewis did not relinquish his chairmanship after his dealings with a lobbying firm. (The Dems Unethical Embarrassments, Novak 2010) Through reading her article it was obvious to see that elected officials are continuously ignoring their ethics by the amount of information given on the subject.
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Ethics are needed in order to maintain an honest running government. In the book “An Ethics Guide for Public Service” they present several different ways to obtain
this honest government through ethics and several important attributes and characteristics our elected officials should demonstrate. They then show several cases to the reader showing where they have not used ethics leading to problem’s within peoples community. The authors then introduce the idea of a stricter stance on ethics in order to stop the negative affects of unethical politicians in our communities.(An Ethics Guide for Public Service, Cody, M., & Lynn, R. R., pg 1) He gives an example of how President George Bush tried to emphasis his concerns of ethics to the people, only for it to be ignored.(An Ethics Guide for Public Service, Cody, M., & Lynn, R. R., pg 1) They also give examples of politicians running unethical campaigns supported by contributions made from business or people the candidate knows personally. (An ethics Guide for Public Service, Cody, M., & Lynn, R. R. , pg 1)
Politicians also over look their ethics in order to run a more successful campaign. In the article “Smear or be Smeared” author Brooks Jackson show how one party did just that. The Democratic party planned to spend unlimited amounts of money on advertisements providing information on John Mccain and showing his downfalls. (Smear or be Smeared, Jackson 2008) The statements provided however appeared to be slanderous and very misleading. Democrats did this hopes of increasing their followings. In the Democrats defense though, they prepared these advertisements saying “ the Republicans were just as ready to fabricate stories about them”. (Smear or
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be Smeared, Jackson 2008) Once again the actions of either party have failed to show their ethics leading to dishonesty.
Through the disregards of honesty and these certain ethics a lot of people would argue that their actions have become political corruption. Johnston and Heidenheimer,
the authors of “Political Corruption”, reveal to their readers the corruption elected officials have taken part in. Many being briberies given to elected officials from business
and other corporations in order to receive investment licenses, giving other investors no incentive to want to invest. (Political Corruption, Johnston and Heidenheimer 2002, pg 329)They also go into scrupulousness over public resources being used to benefits the means of politicians rather than the people. Small business as well are affected by the lack of ethics made by politicians, heavily taxing permits and licenses in hopes of slowing down production in order to not pay an investment cost. (Political Corruption, Johnston and Heidenheimer 2002, pg 331)
Author Joubert also wrote an article on the over looking of ethics leading to corruption. In this article his main focus was giving the reader several examples of how these politicians have lead to public corruption. To illustrate his idea, he talks about the granting of public contracts to favored people, the acceptantance of bribery to increase funding on campaigns, and the giving of land franchises, hoping to influence the people for votes and more money for campaigning. (Corrupt Practices, Joubert 2009, pg 1) He also explains how politicians use loopholes to increase their campaign spending, bypassing certain restriction on the spending of campaigns made to limit their spending. (Corrupt Practices, Joubert 2009, pg 1) Evasions of these acts were dubbed the name
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“Corrupt Practices”, due to immoral operations of these politicians, showing yet again no ethics.
Philpott, The author of the article “An Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics” emphasizes the idea that through the practice of ethics in politics, it will help to “ease the persuasion of people and help change peoples mind’s” which help change things in society in a more positive way. (An Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Philpott 2003) She also then suggest that the practice of ethics in our society will bring about a sense of humanitarianism, decolonizing our improper practices leading to an overall superior government. (An Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Philpott 2003) Her information on the practices of ethics prove to the readers that not only will people be able to trust our government but have a proper running government.
However, not all officials are disregarding their ethics, some are trying to make a change. Author, Miller, wrote a newspaper article for the Washington times on an ethics reform that was put into place because so many people were having trouble putting their faith in the government. In order to ensure the people they are fixing our ethical problems they have instated this reform listing several more constraint against elected officials, keeping them from violating their ethics any further. ( Senate Passes Ethics reform by 96-2 Margin, Miller 2007)
Knowing this information on our elected officials can be very beneficial to us in various ways. It can help us become a better voter, knowing who’s running, their views on certain topics, and the integrity of our officials can make choosing the correct candidate simple and smarter. Not only will you be able to become more knowledgeable
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on our officials and their downfalls but you would be able to take stance, trying to change their undoings and make it right.
Reference Page 8
Cody, M., & Lynn, R. R. (1992). Honest Government AN ETHICS GUIDE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE (pp. 1-10). Westport, Connecticut: Praeger London. Retrieved October, 2010
Heidenheimer, A. J., & Johnston, M. (2002). Political Corruption (pp. 329-332). Transaction Publishers. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from http://books.google.com/books?id=49y50pzjAzAC&pg=PA329&dq=voting+corruption&hl=en&ei=Fg-mTIvKD4L68Ab-q6T4AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=5&ved=0CEIQ6wEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false
Jackson, B. (2008, February 8). Smear or Be Smeared? Fact check, 1. Retrieved October 6, 2010, from http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/smear_or_be_smeared.html
Joubert, J. (2009). Corrupt practices. In The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed., p. 1). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from http://www.questia.com/read/117013042?title=Corrupt%20Practices
Miller, S A. "Senate Passes Ethics Reform by 96-2 Margin; Democrats Agree to Line-Item Vote." The Washington Times 19 Jan. 2007. Web. Oct. 2010.
Novak, V. (2010, March 12). The dems ethical embarrassments . Retrieved October 1, 2010, from http://www.factcheck.org/2010/03/rnc-the-dems-ethical-embarrassments/
Philpot, D. (2003). Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Decolonization, and Humanitarian Intervention. Ethics & International Affairs, 17, 1. Retrieved October, 2010
