Issue43 求拍,谢谢！

vic_rainUID: 2304309

TOPIC: ISSUE43 - "To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards."
WORDS: 718          TIME: 00:45:00          DATE: 2008-3-4 11:47:04
I basically agree with the statement above with my own reservation. For a public official to be an effective leader, it is necessary to maintain the essential ethical and moral standards, especially considering our modern society overflowing multifarious allurements, yet not necessarily highest. After all, an effective leader is not a severe moralist.

To begin with, maintaining the essential ethical and moral standards is fundamental virtue for not only any leader but also ordinary group of people. For all we know, the any leader who lacks of the most important and basic ethical and moral standards is actually a disastrous bomb to the overall population of people in a certain amount , no matter how great in leadership's success. Consider the notorious leader of Nazi Germany, Hitler. No one would deny his successful leadership with respect to martial ability. Nevertheless, regarding his cruel role in World War II which brought tremendous tragedy to people all over the world, it is quite possible that we deprive his normal right of being human being, let alone evaluating his leadership. On the other hand, any leader who lacks of essential ethical and moral standards is more likely to be abandoned by people who once trust him sooner or later. That is to say, one will fall down from where one rose up. As our most famous moralist Confucius once said, Monarch is the boat while people are water. Water can carry boats as well as overthrow them. The Watergate case is a good example here. When Richard Nixon's dishonesty and improper behaviors under president reelection reveal to public, American people not trust him anymore. And he had no other choice but then became the first one in American history to resign during his term of President. And another example is President Bill Clinton's sexual scandal. Although it did not lead to a resignation at last, his prestige throughout American history was seriously influenced. Therefore in short, lacking of essential ethical and moral standards leaders would never being effective in fact because they are unlikely to obtain people's support at last. And even though stand acceptably temporarily, history will give a final judgment.

However, only pursuing then owning better ethical and moral standards is far beyond to be an excellent and effective leader. Again, take our famous moralist Confucius in China as an example. Confucius undoubtedly maintained the highest ethical and moral standards all over his lifetime, but no Monarch would like to invite him to be a leader who can help govern a nation even any smaller district. The reason is simple that his benevolence would never lead to victories in battles, or solve complex problems in a society lying in human nature. As a common sense, there is a clear distinction between morality and leadership. Morality mainly aims at self-discipline then convinces people and finished. Thus the former is only one way of achieving the latter. Whenever by way of morality leadership find no way, other possible alternatives to finishing leading process should be taken into consideration, such as punishment and any procedures legal.

Furthermore, in some cases the leader cannot follow moral standards as a result objective reasons. On the one hand, under certain circumstances, leader must tell a lie. For example, when something involved are related to national secrets or when something revealed to public would result in severe social confusion before them can be confirmed, excessively pursuing highest moral standards would cast considerable negative effect on leader's decision-making. On the other hand, leader as a part of ordinary people also has every explanation for his/her own privacy. In some eastern countries, people require their leaders to be more restricted in marital and family issues, while it may be different in some west countries. Besides, Roosevelt's New Deal dealing with the great Economic Depression in 1930s worker well and American economy recovered rapidly in the coming years. Nevertheless, Roosevelt also have moral flaw in extramarital affair. So, within the range of legal admission and not doing great harm to public, leader's personal problems in moral aspect should be treated case-by-case.

In sum, I agree with the speaker to the extent that leader must main the essential ethical and moral standards. Nevertheless, we should not do any evaluation before we can identify the real explanations for certain leaders' moral problems and respect private issues. And it is true that what we really need is an effective leader at last, not severe moralist.