【shining小组3月7号作业帖】我知道我很水。issue43

笨笨21UID: 3018244

TOPIC: ISSUE43 - "To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards."
WORDS: 587

According to the statement, I agree with the speaker's broad assertion that maintaining the highest ethical and moral standards is necessary for a public official to be an effective leader. And I take exception with the claim when it comes to the unwarranted expansion of the ethical and moral standards.

One reason for my fundamental agreement with the speaker is that an effective leader do must have high ethical and moral standards to make his people convinced and honored. Under the situation, the leader can do better service for people and country. And as a result, he will be memorized forever. Considering our honored premier Zhou Enlai, who is always strict with himself to maintain high ethical and moral standards no matter represent for our country or himself, he is called people's excellent premier brought up by ordinary people. Premier Zhou used his whole life to service people, which is ascribed by his morality and ethics. By which I mean, ethical and moral standards of a person is an aspect for people to judge whether a public official service the people with his whole heart or not.
Another reason why I essentially agree with the speaker is that public officials with low ethical and moral standards do harm our society. And they won't get the support from people. The Nixon Watergate scandal is such an appropriate example. As the president of America, Nixon ordered his mates to bug some relevant documents of his competent during the 1972 Presidential Election. After the truth is exposed, people didn't support for Nixon any more. And Nixon resigned his position for the pressure of people and mass media.

Nonetheless, we should take the special element of politics into consideration. Sometimes, the ethical and moral standards in politics are different from usual standards, and we can't measure it with a regular material criterion. When the SARS came, in order to remain the popular stability, even an effective lead with highest ethical and moral standards will absolutely conceal the true danger of the disease. And in our whole life, we will pass through attack of terrorism, tsunami, and kinds of contagious diseases. In these cases, an effective leader will throw over his own morality just to maintain people's composure, society's normal running and country's safe.
And we can't deny a person's potentiality to be an effective leader just by the standard of ethical and moral. As a leader, especially an effective leader, there are far more aspects for them to possessed except morality and ethics. They must have sensitive olfaction for international relationship, the ability of making a prompt decision and care about his people. The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, is a suitable example to support my view. He has three marriages and during his tenure, he got divorced with his second wife Cecilia and within four months got marriage with his new girlfriend, which makes him less supported after his election. However, the moral and ethical mess about his personal life doesn’t forbid him to become an effective leader. He do get some political achievements and take responsibility for his country.

In summary, history informs us that effective political leadership requires high standards of ethical and moral. While, when it comes to the practical political problems, an effective leader must strike a balance between personal morality and society obligation. So only high ethical and moral standards can’t consummate a leader but a leader with high ethics and morality will absolutely accomplish his mission given by the people supported and honored him.