The adulterous woman with her accusers
Having focused so much on the candidates for the high offices, one might lose sight of the fact that these candidates indeed reflect the way the American society itself is. It is hard to find saints in a rotten society. And the trouble in finding honest untainted leaders is not just limited to political offices. It runs through business circle to the religious establishments.
One story which I learnt as a child in the religion class in my primary school days was that of the woman caught in adultery. She was brought to Jesus by a large crowd demanding him to pass judgment of death by stoning on her. Jesus asked that the one who had not sinned in the crowd should cast the first stone at her. No one did. Instead, one by one, they all walked away.
It is human nature to assume that you are on the moral high ground while everyone around you has fallen short of it, one way or another. So we all tend to point accusing fingers at others. The trouble is, each time you point a finger at someone, at least three fingers on that same hand tend to point at you.
The United States is entering a period when several cupboards will be opened and skeletons (real or imagined) are let out into the open. As the November 2012 elections enter into the key phase, and as potential candidates declare their intentions to run for office, so do the skeleton hunters come out in full force to start a very meticulous and intensive scrutiny of each of them. While the focus has so far been on the next occupant of the White House, one should not forget that there are contests in the other levels of the administration with hundreds of candidates on the line.
The rationale is that if you had done something wrong in your past, irrespective of how many years ago that such misdeed might have happened, you are not fit to lead in the future. If you have ever done anything that could be considered to be anti-social or unethical, it is pointless investing your time, money and energy in a political campaign which is destined to fail. It is just a matter of time before the skeleton hunters come out with your past misdeeds. Like a boomerang, it goes out there and comes back to hit you. Skeleton hunting is big business in America – the higher the stake, the more the reward.
The word is ethics. Most candidates know it. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota spelt it all out in a very pragmatic manner by saying: “… ethics is something that must be woven into the very fabric of our government. Ethics goes to the heart of our American democracy – to the public trust and respect that is essential to the health of our Constitutional system….”
Americans are by no means unreasonable on the ethical considerations for their elected officers. Most of the things that would blow a campaign apart do make a lot of sense.
You might be forgiven if all you did wrong in the past was to smoke dope as a student. But if the skeleton found in your cupboard related to your past tax evasion or failure to pay child allowance to your ex-spouse, then you need to worry.
There is indeed a wide range of skeletons that could pop out of the cupboard to haunt you, and their impacts do vary widely. If you have been done in for child molestation, even as long ago as forty years, you might well forget about a political ambition. Sexual harassment and bigotry are frowned upon. So are skeletons relating to past association with those considered to be unpatriotic elements of the society, as well as those with outspoken non-mainstream views.
Skeletons in the cupboard may also result from extremist religious views (if these are non-Christian), or through association with known lobbyists. Adultery and/or sex outside marriage, use of escorts and pleasure service centres, anti-Semitic views, and hiring illegal immigrants as house-helps among others also create their own skeletons.
Herman Cain
Early shots were fired in the Republican primary campaign. Herman Cairn who became successful as a pizza entrepreneur and rose to become president of American Restaurant Association, decided to take his American dream a step further. In fact, he decided to take it to the highest level in the land. What he failed to do was to ensure that the cupboard to his past was securely locked and to ensure that skeleton hunters would not find out about past allegations of sexual harassments. Considering that two of the four accusers were paid off for their silence, and that the other two only laid complaints fairly late, nothing could be proved or disproved. The presidential candidate denied the allegations. The smoke is out there. Politics divides America as to where the fire is, if any. Yet the damage is already done.
Having focused so much on the candidates for the high offices, one might lose sight of the fact that these candidates indeed reflect the way the American society itself is. It is hard to find saints in a rotten society. And the trouble in finding honest untainted leaders is not just limited to political offices. It runs through business circle to the religious establishments.
As an introduction to his book titled “Leadership is Dead” Jeremie Kubicek wrote, “In my view, leadership as we have known it is dead because far too many leaders have abused their positions and lost their moral bearings. From the banking industry collapse to corporate greed, these leaders have abandoned all long-term responsibility and discipline in favor of short-term gains. The runaway greed of Wall Street’s leadership, skyrocketing salaries for corporate executives, and unkept promises from political leaders have left most people feeling betrayed and jilted. Not only do we not trust our leaders, but in many cases, employees are becoming victims of these unresponsive leaders. Consequently, most leaders are now viewed with cynicism and skepticism, and many have lost the trust of those they are supposed to inspire and motivate.”
It is interesting to take a peep at the society itself. In reality, too many Americans live a life of deceit and make-believe in a capitalist environment that has sold its soul to money.
Most first-time travelers to America very quickly notice how the central issue in the society is money. They also notice how American dreams could become reality simply by preying on the gullibility of others.
Take the mega-churches for example. Most of the worshipper are true believers in the Christian doctrine and in manna comes from heaven in Jesus name. But take the owners of these churches themselves – they are business people most of who do not believe in life after death and, simply milk the gullible. The more gullible peasants they attract to their business, the bigger the mega-church becomes, the better the business gets, and the sweeter their American dreams! The bigger the mega-church, the larger the cupboards holding the skeletons. Some of the atrocities committed by the leaders of these churches would make Judas Iscariot look like a saint.
Too many American businesses use this same model. It is a case of dog-eat-dog. For this reason, the inscription on the American bank notes that says – In God We Trust – makes a lot of sense.
The American society is by no means the only one where there is an issue with ethics. This problem is nearly universal, and it is worse in some places. The exercise of digging into the past of those aspiring to lead in the future should, in principle, help to weed out those with very dubious pasts. It should also serve as a warning to evil-doers or those planning to engage in unethical or anti-social behaviours that they might be risking delayed retribution.
What probably makes the US stand out is the vigour with which the skeleton-hunting is pursued, which often leads to accusation of partisanship. Also worthy of note is the high level of pretention and hypocrisy of the process. The fact is that very often, most of those who adopt the pose of holier-than-thou hide worse skeletons in their own cupboards. From the viewpoint of most people outside the US, the so-called religious conservatives present possibly the most hypocritical block in the country. With their actions not matching what they preach, a large credibility gap is created. It should be interesting to know how many would be left standing if the biblical phrase of “let him or her who has no sin cast the first stone” was to be directed at this crowd.
Before concluding this piece, I would like to go back to the American 2012 elections. The population of the United States as at the end of October 2011 is put at 312,598,000 of which roughly 22% are below the voting age. Also from this total must be deducted illegal immigrants that have no rights to vote as well as old and infirm people that will not get to the polling stations anyway. That leaves about 200 million potential electors. The question is: If those that are guilty of dishonesty, unethical or unpatriotic behaviour of one kind or another (in the past twelve months), should voluntarily exclude themselves from casting their ballots, how many Americans will qualify to participate in the November 2012 elections?
The following, which is by no means exhaustive, could be used as a shortlist of possible skeletons in the cupboard of the American voters:
- Those who have cheated their spouses with secret lovers
- Those with secret love-kids
- Those who have cheated on their tax declarations
- Those who have lied on their CVs while applying for jobs
- Those who have falsified official records
- Those who have given a bribe in order to procure favour
- Those who have taken a bribe or “gratification“
- Those who have done smart-cheating in a shopping mall
- Those who have cheated their employers by stealing time for which they were paid and meant to work, doing personal and private things like social-networking, Facebook, LinkedIn, sending e-mails, arranging holidays or internet shopping during office hours
- Those who have stolen from their employers by making photo-copies of private documents using office facilities and those who borrowed some printing paper and other minor office stationery.
- Government workers who have used official vehicles to run private errands
- Those who have sexually harassed a colleague or subordinate at work
- Those who have vandalised a communal property
- Those who have defaulted on paying child-allowances to their ex-partners
- Those who have taken illegal substances
- Those who have downloaded child pornographic images on their computers
- Those who have associated with unpatriotic people with extremist views
- Pick-pockets, petty thieves and muggers
- Employers and company executives that have abused or unfairly short-changed their employees
- Employers who have hired cheap undocumented staff and illegal immigrants
- Church leaders who have had illicit affairs with members of their congregations
- Church leaders who have exploited dying parishioners out of their savings
- Various professional who have cheated their clients in one form or the other.
If all those who can associate with at least one of these should be excluded from casting their ballots in November 2012, the coming elections should have a very interesting outcome indeed.
The author of this article Dr. Edwina Joel is a member of the editorial board of Read-Online.Org. She is an Economic Policy Analyst and researcher. (Contact: Edwina.Joel@Read-Online.Org)
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the editorial position of Read-Online.Org
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