ISSUE167【0706G－cheer作文互改小组第七次作业】

flyyuhaoUID: 2248478

167  "It is impossible for an effective political leader to tell the truth all the time. Complete honesty is not a useful virtue for a politician."
一位卓有成效的政治领导人是不可能一直都讲真话的。对于政治家来说，绝对的诚实是无用的美德。

提纲
观点：平衡观点
1.有保留的隐藏信息对于政治家个人来说是必需的。例子：选举，与对手竞争等
2.隐藏信息对于大众，对于社会，对于国家的利益来说，很多时候都是有正面效应的。例子：SARS
3.领导者对于某些特定的信息，比如政治目的，是如何利用手中的权利等等。否则，会造成政府的腐败以及社会的对政府的不信任，最终导致严重的社会问题。

TOPIC: ISSUE167 - "It is impossible for an effective political leader to tell the truth all the time. Complete honesty is not a useful virtue for a politician."
WORDS: 407          TIME: 0:45:00          DATE: 2007-2-21


I fundamentally agree with the speaker's assertion that it is not possible for an effective political leader to tell the truth all the time for the reason that complete honesty is not a useful virtue for a politician. However, the speaker ignores the fact that we cannot allow our political leaders undue freedom to withhold information; otherwise, it will result in corruption in government and bring detriment to society, eventually.

One reason for my fundamental agreement with the speaker is that in order to gain the opportunity for effective public leadership, a would-be leader must first gain and maintain political power. Let us take voting for officials election for example. Politicians spare no effort to do compliments to themselves, trying to attract more constituency to vote for them, showing their great cares about the middle and bottom class of the society and their passion and confidence to provide the residents with more comfortable and convenient living conditions. At the meantime, a deliberate leader may probably disguise his demerit and mistakes to the public, for that they must be alert of the possible attacks on their back from opponents. For that time, surprising news and scandals may appear here and there, which we call political rhetoric of the politicians to perfect themselves. Because with this dishonesty to the disadvantages they may suffer from as arms in hand, politicians beat their opponents and get the final victory and solid their position of managing the society.

Another reason why I agree with the speaker is that in order to maintain social stability and national security, political leaders must withhold information which may cause social chaos or threaten public safety. If a national leader speaks honestly all the problems exist in the government to their hostile countries or even frankly tells their nation's military strength and confidential information, any promising and powerful leader will end his or her political destiny because of the ridiculous honesty. If President Bush declaimed a new military strategy against Iraq in the public announcement, the plans will fail ultimately and the ending of the war remains discussion.

Admittedly, it is indispensable for politicians to hold their requisite integrity . Otherwise, undue freedom to withhold information will result in corruption in the government, and therefore bring detriment to society. To support my perspective, we need look no further than the Watergate. With the help of technology, Nixon, former US president, depended on advanced technique to prevent the public from knowing about his action toward the Watergate. Individuals in United States were astonished and came to realize what they seldom paid attention to. Since the news about the government and society is the chief source for crowds to comprehend social events, populace will know less of them if the information is prevented and cannot exert the power of supervision, which is harmful for the benign advancement of society.

To sum up, the game of politics calls for a certain amount of concealing of the truth. Basically, it is necessary and beneficial to cover some information about the political plans and statistical result from the public, no matter for the social individuals or for the public and nation. Nevertheless, a predominant and trustworthy political leader must be honest to the public, that is to say, leaders  should publicize the key information to the society, such as his or her political goals, on the precondition that it will not do harm to the majority.

[ 本帖最后由 lastangel 于 2007-2-21 23:16 编辑 ]