Roget’s II defines character as “the combination of emotional, intellectual, and moral qualities that distinguishes an individual”. A person’s ethical qualities can be virtues, such as steadfastness and reliability but they can also be vices, like megalomania and vengefulness.
Through the recent crisis in our economy we have all seen how important it is for leaders to exercise good judgment, maintain a high degree of honesty and integrity, avoid illegal, dishonest, fraudulent or deceitful conduct, and stay away from acts which show disregard for the health, safety and welfare of the country. We have all witnessed how a lack of good moral character caused Democratic members of Congress to insist on little to no oversight at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and how the subsequent collapse of these institutions led to an expanding failure of banks worldwide.
Now, more than ever, is when we need our leaders to have honesty, responsibility, integrity, trustworthiness, mental and emotional competence, and respect for the rights of others. In short we need our country’s leaders to have good character so that they can lead us through the tough times with honor, honesty, integrity, reliability and responsibility. We can’t afford more of the same lying, cheating, and stealing that got us to this point in the first place.
An honorable character is the most important quality a leader like the President of The United States can have and we must ask some questions to determine which ticket running for the top two offices in the land has it. Here are two questions that bring the character picture into sharp focus.
Who caused the current economic crisis?
Some say Bush but as intelligent people we know that the president has little to no effect on the economy other than signing or rejecting legislation that the congress puts before him. Contrary to unproven yet popular media and Democratic claims that Republican deregulation caused the problem, it was really the lack of ethics and good character on the part of Democratic members of congress that caused it. People who are yelling the loudest like Barney Frank and Barrack Obama acted to protect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEO’s who were defrauding their companies. They did it by refusing to pass legislation from Senator McCain and others, which was (shocker here) attempting to “regulate” and “oversee” Fannie/Freddie. Under the guise of providing homes for the poor (meaning people who could not keep up house payments) the Democrats in congress consistently killed every attempt by Republicans to regulate the two renegade companies which continued to run amok, almost taking the rest of the country down the drain with them!
Who has the character to fix the economic crisis?
The answer to this question would have to be: the ticket that has shown the most moral character not just during this campaign, but during their entire career. The ticket to vote for would have to be the ticket whose members have consistently worked to clean up corruption and excessive government spending, the ticket whose members have consistently put the interests of the United States before party and before personal gain. There is only one ticket that fits this bill and that is McCain/Palin.
Senator McCain’s sacrifices for America speak for themselves. It was he who spent 5 years of his life under pain and torture in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. Likewise it was McCain who tried to regulate Fannie/Freddie and in 2006 warned, “If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole”. Governor Palin’s record also reveals a person of tough moral character who stood up to deep corruption in her own party despite her newness on the political scene of Alaska.
The other ticket, by contrast has not shown the moral fiber to stop corruption, not once. In fact when they had the chance, Obama and Biden did nothing to regulate Fannie/Freddie and indeed defended their unsound business practices. Later Obama even took advice on economic matters from the corrupt ousted CEO’s of Fannie/Freddie, Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson, and accepted record donations from Fannie/Freddie employees. Now Obama and Biden not only refuse to admit to their part in the crisis, they also falsely accuse McCain’s general stance toward deregulation for the entire mess.
People who helped cause the current economic collapse through deliberate actions are not the ones that deserve our trust to fix it because their demonstrated lack of moral character tells us no trust is warranted for such wrongdoers and deniers. Only one ticket deserves our trust and our votes and that is McCain/Palin. McCain/Palin’s strong moral character and solid commitment to America stands alone in a political landscape otherwise littered with people who are guilty of ongoing dishonesty and self-dealing.
References:
character. (n.d.). Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. Retrieved October 02, 2008, from Thesaurus.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/character