An Old Connection Made
Tom Daschle is back in the news today. Oddly enough Mr Daschle’s name is linked in my noggin with a quote probably bugged me as the most wrong thing I’ve every heard a politician utter. There was some scandal he was defending another Democratic from and he said something like,
What X did was unethical and immoral, but it was not illegal.
This to me seems to get it exactly backwards and should not be used to defend anyone’s actions. Your actions should be moral and ethical … and its always a good thing if they are also legal. But if the two are at odds, i.e., the ethical/moral and the legal are not the same, we should always choose the ethical and let the cards fall where they may regarding the legal.
Filed under: Ethics & Morality • Government • Mark O.
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So, context is everything here. Was Daschle defending someone? Was he complaining about the defense? Was he merely commenting?
Who? What? When? Where? Why?
Ed,
It was not in a court of law but in the court of public opinion. I do not follow the history of scandal in modern politics and have no head for names … however from what I recall it was a fellow Democratic Senator or Representative whom he was defending. That person in turn was involved in a scandal involving I think adultery with a staff member who was suspected dead or killed.
However, my point was in fact that context does not matter. That this is a fundamental principle, that morals/ethics are more important than law. We do what is right. What is legal is of secondary importance. If what intend you do is right but illegal, you should do it. If it is legal and immoral you should not.
In the case of sexual perfidy and high office, it seems to me if you are dishonest about the big things (marriage) then why should you be expected to be honest about the little ones (the billions of dollars of other peoples money)?