Is It Illegal? Or Is It Merely Unethical and Immoral?

There is much talk around about values and the lack of values in our ever-changing world. There are "family values" and there are "Christian values". There are those that will tell you that the current leadership in the United States is trying to fight a "Cultural War" and that the progressive liberals are the enemy.

The foundation of any value system is based on the moral and/or ethical behavioral decisions that are engrained in the populace. The stronger the value system is, it is more likely that good decisions regarding behavior will be made.

For the very worst behavior, laws prohibiting the behavior have been and continue to be implemented. Laws deem the behavior as illegal with varying degree of accountability based on the severity of the illegal behavior. With the exception of safety laws most laws are created to control and prevent immoral or unethical behavior.

Most disturbing to me is that there are innumerous types of behavior that, while they may not be illegal, are unacceptable and damaging because they are either unethical and/or immoral.

For the majority of my adult life I have functioned in the corporate world and most of the time I have been in varying leadership positions with strong expectations of proper ethical and moral behavior. With my responsibilities comes a clear understanding of various "codes of conduct" and "conditions of employment". These ethical and moral compasses clearly involve proper behavior in relationships with customers, peers, superiors and subordinates.
These are good and proper behavioral expectations and certainly should be taken forth to family, community and all other entities where humans interact with each other.

I want to examine some current and recent behaviors of some individuals in leadership positions and present my analysis of these behaviors against the moral/ethical standard.


Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, etc.

Since the U.S. Attorney General has appointed a Special Prosecutor (at the President’s direction) to investigate, I feel safe in assuming that someone engaged in some type of wrong behavior involving the exposure of a CIA agent. Perhaps it was illegal and there will be appropriate punishment. Perhaps it was illegal and effective attorneys will be able to successfully present that no laws were broken. Who knows how the legal review will end up.

But what about the moral and ethical implications about what happened? You must examine the "why" and the resulting human impact.

The human impact is easy to define. Regardless of the reasons or intentions, an individual’s career and quality of life has been destroyed. Certainly, there is also a negative impact on her family and friends.

The "why" question is more difficult to define. It has been suggested with significant credibility that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby intentionally and with malice "leaked" the CIA information to reporter(s) as retribution for an unfavorable article that was written by the CIA employee’s husband.

If you are these individual’s bosses, is this the type of behavior that you expect and support of your subordinates? Do you demand ethical behavior? Do you expect moral behavior? Who else is involved in the unethical and immoral behavior? Wouldn't it be easy to have a few discussions and make that judgement?

Regardless of legal determination, If I did this type of behavior at my place of employment, my boss would have me on the carpet and my employment would be terminated.

Governor Fletcher and the BlackBerry Jam

In my home state of Kentucky we recently elected a new Governor who ran on a platform to "Clean Up the Mess in Frankfort". His predecessor had engaged in sex scandal that embarrassed all residents of the commonwealth.

Unfortunately, as the new Governor and his cronies started replacing the state employees of their choosing they also chose to ignore the laws that clearly defined which jobs they were able to appoint partisan employees to and which jobs were "merit" protected jobs. As they proceeded to hire and fire employees at will, much of their "slimy" communications on who to get rid of and who to do favors for were being recorded on e-mail devices called "BlackBerry". While it was a nice technology toy for the cronies, it created quite a political "jam". The State Attorney General is investigating with plenty of embarrassing e-mails as evidence. Thus far, there has been a Grand Jury appointed and several charges filed against many of the top officials in the state.

The new Governor has stated that the investigation has been:

1. A witch hunt that is "politically motivated"
2. "No big deal, since misdemeanors are similar to jaywalking"
3. "Unavoidable, since he and his staff did not understand the law about the Merit hiring system"

Reportedly, the Governor is also considering granting pardons to all of those involved.

Meanwhile, several good state employees have unnecessarily lost their jobs while other favorable employees have been given jobs for which they are probably unqualified for. Many, many humans are hurt and their lives are changed.

Where is the ethical behavior? Where is the moral behavior? Where is the leadership that demands it?

Media Pied Piper Bill O’Reilly Gets a Pass on Moral and Ethical Behavior

Last year, Bill O’Reilly found his bad behavior being called to task in a civil lawsuit that was filed by a producer who was an employee of FOXNews. It seems that Bill was looking out for more than just himself as he engaged in obvious sexual harassment activities with a co-worker.

In case it has been forgotten here is the verified complaint that was filed in regard to this behavior:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1013043mackris1.html

Of course, this behavior was secretly settled financially. I wonder if the executives of FOXNews who participated in the secret settlement had a job performance counseling session with Mr. O’Reilly regarding his immoral and unethical behavior. Whereever I have worked, sexual harassment in the workplace is immediate grounds for employment termination.


Let’s Let Ward & June Decide!

Can you imagine if any of the above mentioned individuals with questionable behavior had to answer to Ward & June Cleaver?

The scenario would go something like this:

June: "Ward, I worried about the Beaver, Karl & Scooter"

Do you think Ward would then say "June, let’s let the Special Prosecutor complete his investigation and if anything has been done that is illegal, then I’ll take action?" Of course not!

Ward would say: "June, I’m going upstairs to the boy’s room and talk to them right now!"

And when Ward got to the boy’s he would not be talking to them about damage control and ways to skirt the legality of their behavior. He would be talking to them about morals, ethics and what proper behavior is. He then would make them accountable for their bad behavior as a life lesson.

Is this "Leave to Beaver" scenario silly & unrealistic? Sure! But how did we as an American people get so far off track from Ward & June’s world.

How is it that lying, dishonesty, corruption and vindictiveness are the norm?

I am concerned that these examples represent what is considered acceptable behavior by the leadership of our government and corporations. What concerns me even more is that if these examples are accurate….what more are they doing in the unethical & immoral arena that we don’t even know about?

Before the conservative right tackle the more complex issues of single sex marriage, stem cell research or abortion, perhaps it would be best to address the day to day immoral and unethical behavior of the leadership of America.

Me and Uncle Sam: Born on the Fourth of July!

My birthday is July 4th, just like the United States of America.

Along with my father, step-father and uncles, I have served honorably with merit in the United States Military.

I love my country along with the ideas for which it was founded. I have studied American history along with all of the more important documents that define its structure and principles. I have a very clear understanding of the meaning of patriotism.

In recent times, patriotism seems to have been captured as their own by the conservative right and supporters of the present administration in our government. The meaning of partiotism and who is considered a patriot has been spun to only be applicable to those who agree with them. To question the policies and decisions of this administration causes one to feel that the very essence of one's patriotism is being questioned.

I recently saw a bumper sticker on a car that said "I Love My Country, I Just Don't Trust My Government!" Of course, I thought to myself, "RIGHT ON!"

Not trusting or respecting a government that is corrupt with politics, power or influence is as old as the hills. It is not a question of one's partiotism and it is not a question of one's political idealogy. To not respect and dis-trust individuals and groups who are not doing the job the way it is supposed to be done is very American!

I was born on the 4th of July and I am proud of that fact!

Happy Birthday to me! Happy birthday to the United States of America!

May we both have many more to come!