The Democraticans’ definition of ‘ethical reform’ is an odious oxymoron.The premise they begin with, is that everybody, somewhere, sometime, will do bad things. So they create a legalistic code, and when accused of violating this code, they challenge the letter of the code on the grounds either that “everybody does it”, or “the effects do not affect my capability to carry out the duties of my office”.
There is overwhelming reliance on protecting reputation, and not on emphasizing character, which means you do the right thing, even when nobody is looking. This is a concept beyond them, as they believe that if the ethical conflicts go undetected, then there was no lapse. If you go an entire lifetime without ever being held accountable for your failures and anti-social acts, and you end up being lowered into the grave without any human punishment ver being visited upon you, you have somehow won.
Easy if you don’t believe in a higher divinity. What is HARD is living the right way, being fair in your dealings with other, and kind and generous to the less fortunate in great ways and small, and you still don’t believe with your whole heart in a higher divinity.
” There is overwhelming reliance on protecting reputation, and not on emphasizing character, which means you do the right thing, even when nobody is looking. “
That resonates. I discovered partway through life that God is whatever it is that makes you do the right thing “when no one’s looking”, and that’s what makes or breaks a community. That’s why the libs hate the whole idea of a “Higher Authority” than the FDA.