by Peggy Kerns
In his weekly column, Rushworth M. Kidder, president of the Institute for Global Ethics, asks, “Are we in a double-dip ethics recession?”
When the last recession began to hit in 2008, we at the Institute started examining evidence of a connection between economics and ethics. As scandal after scandal erupted in the financial sector…we asked whether the economic collapse arose not from innocent financial forces but from a vast ethical meltdown. Summarizing our work in 2009, we published The Ethics Recession: Reflections on the Moral Underpinnings of the Current Economic Crisis.
So we were pleased to see the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission explicitly making the ethics link in its 545-page report last February. Pointing to “a systemic breakdown in accountability and ethics” as one of six fundamental causes of the crisis, its authors noted that “the integrity of our financial markets and the public’s trust in those markets are essential to the economic well-being of our nation.”…And that got us wondering whether we could put a metric to the idea of an ethics recession.
Broadly speaking, they (recessions) happen when GDP has been shrinking for two consecutive quarters. By analogy, might an ethics recession happen when a nation’s public integrity has been in decline for a similar period?
How might this be measured? Kidder says one way is through public opinion, which has not been favorable to Congress or the administration. If people agree that core values are honesty, fairness and responsibility, Kidder believes that Congress “indeed has lapsed into moral decline.” He writes that:
Its institutional behavior over the summer raised serious questions about the truthfulness of what both sides portray as facts, about the sense of justice and fairness to citizens present and future, and about the duty of elected officials to find ways to compromise in order to prevent stalemate and paralysis.
Though much of Kidder’s column is devoted to the national scene, he raises issues that can apply to all levels of government. In our ethics trainings, NCSL’s Center for Ethics in Government asks participants to name the ethical values they bring to their jobs. The group votes on their top values and then defines the values and how they apply to their work. Honesty is always on the list and defining it is easy for the groups−truthfulness and never lie. Further discussions reveal that this definition is not so easy. When presenting a bill do you tell the whole truth about its impacts? In dealing with the opposition, do you withhold information? On the campaign trail do you make promises that are politically expedient but you might not be able to keep? Do you exaggerate facts about your opponent? Do you let others lambaste an opponent so you remain squeaky-clean?
Polls show the public distrusts government and public officials and confidence in them has eroded. If we follow Kidder’s model, then doesn't everyone in the public sector have a moral obligation to correct this perception and bring us out of an ethics recession?
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