“While the Bible doesn’t gloss over the problems we face as we grow older, neither does it paint old age as a time to be despised or a burden to be endured,” he notes.
PERSISTENCE OF ETHICS
Despite the political circus and shrill media, character and ethics issues “will have a huge impact on the 2012 elections,” Los Angeles-based ethicist Michael Josephson tells Inside the Beltway. “Whether it Romney’s hiring of undocumented landscapers or Cain’s alleged sexual harassment, every candidate will be confronted with every imaginable claim that they are unworthy. These accusations work because, despite widespread cynicism, most people care about the kind of people they will be entrusting with the power to make policy.”
Degree matters, though.
“The difficulty will be sorting through reliable and unreliable information and distinguishing minor human transgressions from serious moral breaches that reveal character traits that will really matter,” he advises.
“Every accusation of wrongdoing has to be evaluated carefully. First, the information has to be credible and complete. Motivations and context matter. Second, there are always at least two ethical dimensions to these accusations: 1) if the underlying facts are true, what does this say about the competence or character of the candidate? and 2) what do we learn from how the candidate handles the accusation?”
POLL DU JOUR
• 54 percent of voters in 12 key swing states say “the Republican candidate” is best able to handle the federal budget deficit and debt.
• 38 percent cite President Obama.
• 49 percent say the Republican is best able to handle unemployment; 42 percent cite Mr. Obama.
• 46 percent favor the Republican to handle health care; 45 percent cite Mr. Obama.
• 44 percent say the Republican is best able to handle terrorism and international threats; 45 percent cite Mr. Obama.
• 51 percent say the new health care reform law is a “bad thing”; 38 percent say it is a “good thing”; 12 percent have no opinion.
Source: A Gallup Poll of 1,334 adults, in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin, conducted Oct. 20-27 and released Friday.
• Rumors, candor, odd humor to jharper@washingtontimes.com
© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
To read Jennifer Harper’s Inside the Beltway columns, click here. Contact her at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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