The Cause and Solution to Political Ethics Scandals

We all have been reading about the problems our representatives in Washington D.C. have been having with corruption and how poor a job they have been doing in correcting the problem. The deeper problem is simply that politics is not self-regulating. As demonstrated in a study by Emory University, even ordinary people will excuse the faults of politicians in their own party. How much more difficult it must be for the politicians themselves, who have committed themselves to those parties to a much greater extent than private citizens. It is clearly unreasonable to expect these people to regulate their own behavior the way Scientists and Journalists do. No wonder the government’s own internal ethics panel is doing nothing.

All people and organizations have some problems with self-control or self-regulation. When this happens, the solution is to have some external controls in place. Friends, neighbors and acquaintances let us know when we are stepping out of line. When this does not work, there is the law. However, the law is not a good regulatory method when we are trying to control the behavior of those who create the laws. Some sort of external control is needed.

The existing solution is elections. As we see in the news, every time there is an election year, the politicians suddenly start worrying about what the voters are thinking and are afraid of passing any legislation that will arouse the wrath of the general public. The rest of the time, they could not care less. Making every year an election year would be one solution, but would require an amendment to the constitution, which would take years. A quicker solution would be similar to what many police departments have: an outside agency which monitors and reports on unethical or questionable behavior. Again, since the law makers have to create this agency, this has been voted down.

Secrecy is another problem. Both Science and Journalism are about releasing information, so hiding mistakes and ethical lapses is not a possibility. Politicians, on the other hand, are more and more prone to secrecy in their dealings. The president regularly has meetings on policy which is supposed to benefit the citizens of this country, yet what transpired at those meetings is kept secret from said citizens. Why is that? Earmarks and riders are allowed to be added to bills after the bills have been debated and the identity of the person responsible does not have to be revealed. Why not, unless this behavior is something to be ashamed of?
Not that the federal government has any monopoly on ethics scandals. San Diego, CA has had recent problems with scandals on the government retirement system and bribery by the local sex industry. (Is it a coincidence that these were also all Republicans?) Maybe the solution is to fix the system locally where laws can be passed by ordinary citizens and frighten the national leaders into taking action.