Much has been written over the last week or so about John Della Bosca’s extra-marital affair. For those not up on such things, JDB was the NSW health minister and it was revealed the other week that he had been having an affair with a younger woman. I think he has since resigned as a result of the situation, although he was not asked to do so, and some say he should not have had to. He is certainly not the first politician to have been caught out in this area. It seems to me that two of the big inter-related questions of the week have been, “Is it any of our business?” and “What does it matter?”
The first question deals with whether a politician’s private life is any of our business; and the second question deals with whether it matters that politicians express dubious personal values and virtues, given that we voted them in not to not have private affairs, but to manage our public affairs (sorry, I couldn’t help it...).
Over the weekend, there have been a few good articles in The Weekend Australian that have highlighted these questions. Two of these are:
One of the underlying questions for me in relation to thinking through the questions above is, “What is politics?” If politics is simply the management of the economy or the development of infrastructure for productivity etc, then it might be fair to argue that as long as politicians are delivering the goods in these areas, then they can do what they like, and with whom, between the sheets, on the kitchen table or in the back seat of the car. But what if politics is more than that? What if it has to do with shaping the culture of the society, promoting positive values and encouraging citizens to be the best humans they can possibly be? If this was the case, wouldn’t politicians then be expected to be the “exemplars” (the embodied examples) of those values and cultural hopes; and the drivers of a more positive picture of what “the common good” could mean?
I know this sounds naive, but I am not alone in wishing that this was the case. In the recent BBC “Reith Lectures” series, Professor Michael Sandel delivered four lectures on "A New Citizenship". It was a fascinating series and I listened to these lectures over and over again. Professor Sandel proposed that religion and morality needed to be invited back into the centre of civic life, so that a new conception of “the common good” could be developed and realised. He said that he fully expected there to be robust discussions, debates and disagreements as a result of such a course of action, but that it was necessary to avoid a colourless, and perhaps dangerous society ensuing. He said that governments tended to reduce discussion and debates on important civic issues to economic terms because it was easier to avoid the complexity of these kinds of discussions by hiding behind the safety of economic arguments.
What would the role of politicians then be in this process? All Professor Sandel would say on this is that he would expect more from our politicians in such a system. And I agree. I think we can and should expect more from both our politicians and our political system. We should not allow the quality of our civic life to be reduced in any way, particularly by those who we have been voted in to drive, promote and protect it. To a degree, we get what we expect.
I say, “Expect more!”
Shalom...
The first question deals with whether a politician’s private life is any of our business; and the second question deals with whether it matters that politicians express dubious personal values and virtues, given that we voted them in not to not have private affairs, but to manage our public affairs (sorry, I couldn’t help it...).
Over the weekend, there have been a few good articles in The Weekend Australian that have highlighted these questions. Two of these are:
- "Off Limits or Public Interest?" by Lenore Taylor
- "Experts Split Over Sex Revelations" by Caroline Overington
One of the underlying questions for me in relation to thinking through the questions above is, “What is politics?” If politics is simply the management of the economy or the development of infrastructure for productivity etc, then it might be fair to argue that as long as politicians are delivering the goods in these areas, then they can do what they like, and with whom, between the sheets, on the kitchen table or in the back seat of the car. But what if politics is more than that? What if it has to do with shaping the culture of the society, promoting positive values and encouraging citizens to be the best humans they can possibly be? If this was the case, wouldn’t politicians then be expected to be the “exemplars” (the embodied examples) of those values and cultural hopes; and the drivers of a more positive picture of what “the common good” could mean?
I know this sounds naive, but I am not alone in wishing that this was the case. In the recent BBC “Reith Lectures” series, Professor Michael Sandel delivered four lectures on "A New Citizenship". It was a fascinating series and I listened to these lectures over and over again. Professor Sandel proposed that religion and morality needed to be invited back into the centre of civic life, so that a new conception of “the common good” could be developed and realised. He said that he fully expected there to be robust discussions, debates and disagreements as a result of such a course of action, but that it was necessary to avoid a colourless, and perhaps dangerous society ensuing. He said that governments tended to reduce discussion and debates on important civic issues to economic terms because it was easier to avoid the complexity of these kinds of discussions by hiding behind the safety of economic arguments.
What would the role of politicians then be in this process? All Professor Sandel would say on this is that he would expect more from our politicians in such a system. And I agree. I think we can and should expect more from both our politicians and our political system. We should not allow the quality of our civic life to be reduced in any way, particularly by those who we have been voted in to drive, promote and protect it. To a degree, we get what we expect.
I say, “Expect more!”
Shalom...
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