Political Sex Scandals

5 Pages 1177 Words

The ethics that politicians must follow are not much different from the ones that citizens must follow. There is no written code of ethics that pertains to politicians; ethics are in the form of conventions. The one way that this area differs from politicians to citizens is that the codes of conduct are much stricter when applying to politicians. The media, opposing parties and citizens scrutinize politicians to an extent where they are judged on a different level of ethics when compared to the public. Among the public, if a husband cheats on his wife he is most likely shunned by some but there is no doubt that he will overcome this label. Among politicians these circumstances would be very different. An affair would become national knowledge and the political member involved would most likely lose their job. The negative stigma that accompanies this adulterous act will also follow the politicians name into the history books so it is very hard for him to redeem himself. Politicians are expected to be next to perfect. They act no different than regular people but are judged on a higher level. Politicians are the leaders of our world and represent our individual countries and so must not only carry out good government but must behave according to higher level of ethics. Should politicians be held accountable to this higher standard or should they be held accountable to the same extent as any other person? This is the general question that arises out of this topic. The following paper will discuss the ethical topic of sex scandals in politics. Consequences of these unethical actions will be outlined in regards to how the media responds, how the public responds and how opposing parties respond. Three cases of political sex scandals will be referred to. The cases will be presented in chronological order and each relates to its own country. There is a case from Great Britain, United States, and Chile and so displays how diffe...