Traditional conservative writer Mona Charen, writing on The Bulkwark, warns that democracy’s survival depends on integrity and for people and parties being out for more than winning by any means.
She starts with this:
It’s an honor to add my voice to others who are affirming the importance of principles in American life.
My task is to address the indispensability of honor, integrity, and service in elected officials.
And ends with this:
It’s certainly possible to have a country in which people are motivated only by self-interest or group interests. It’s possible to convince people that everyone cheats and that the only way to survive in this world is to do unto others before they can do unto you.
But that country wouldn’t be America. America is a nation of laws. It’s a nation of rights-bearing individuals who place loyalty to the Constitution above personal or party advantage. It’s a nation that demands integrity because only when those in power behave honorably can those who lose elections accept the results without fear.
Let me say that in a different way. If every election is a contest of unscrupulous liars and cheats who seek advantage only for themselves and their own teams, then democracy cannot survive. Without some sense of integrity, without some minimal standards of decency and fair play among office holders, those who lose will have no faith in their government, and thus no reason to abide by the results of elections.
So, the stakes are very high. Upholding principles isn’t just a boutique taste for an elite few. It’s the bedrock of our democracy. We can tolerate a few miscreants and villains. What we can never do, without losing our country, is accept that corruption and venality are normal. Jefferson said, “we hold these truths to be self-evident.” We, his successors, must say “We hold these principles to be inviolable—and among these are honor, integrity, and the rule of law.”
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.