21. Integrity requires role models, not exemplary behavior
SPs function as role models because (1) they have power, leading others to identify with them and take them as references for their own behavior, (2) their priority should be serving the people, making it inconsistent if they break rules made for the people, and (3) they lose their moral authority if they fail to lead the way in integrity. Behavior that serves as a model does not need to be exemplary per se. SPs do not need to be superheroes, but they can be expected to work harder than average to exhibit integrity.
“Politicians must be a role model for the entire community,” according to the Irish Councilor John Kelly.112 Research in Germany shows that 55% percent of citizens think politicians should be role models for society.113 But why would SPs be role models?
There is an important reason why SPs should act as role models, providing a good example rather than a bad one. People identify with those in power. Power attracts, so people reflect and imitate the behavior of the powerful. People with power are points of reference, role models, and symbols of morality, whether they want to be or not. Since SPs have power, other people look to them and use their behavior as guides for their own. When an SP in a high position breaks traffic rules, this becomes a justification for people inside and outside the SP’s organization to do the same. If SPs mislead others, this forms a justification for others to do the same. If SPs are opportunistic and selfish in their work, this is an encouragement to citizens to neglect their own duties to society.
There is a second reason why SPs act as role models. Society expects SPs to serve society above all, and with good reason. After all, they have great power. The government has a monopoly and a substantial influence on the lives of citizens. For this reason Plato states, “We must choose from among our guardians those who appear to us on observation to be most likely to devote their lives to doing what they judge to be in the interest of the community, and who are never prepared to act against it.”114 SPs are dishonest, lacking integrity, if they are meant to serve the people and only partially do so in practice. Service is unconditional, an act of dedication, as Plato describes it, not a selective activity. How can an SP truly serve the people and at the same time habitually violate laws made for and in the interests of society? This is impossible for an SP with integrity. This is why an SP who breaks a rule is quickly discredited. Examples include a mayor who had not applied for the necessary licenses and exemptions for building her private house, a minister who evaded tax, a prime minister caught driving too fast, and a prince who accepted bribes. For the same reason Spanish Princess Christina was discredited when the judiciary came after her for money laundering.115
The third and final reason SPs act as role models is due to the need for moral authority. If SPs, individually and collectively, fail to take the lead on moral issues, they then have less power and authority in expectations of others and enforcement. German president Christian Wulff lost his moral authority and was politically crippled when it emerged that he had received a cheap mortgage from a bank and subsequently intimidated a journalist who was about to reveal this.116 If several or even all members of congress drove too fast, this would affect the authority of congress, and probably that of politics and government in general, leading to issues such as the police experiencing greater opposition when citizens were fined for speeding.
For SPs who refuse to recognize one or more of these reasons, this raises the question of who in their view should be setting a good example in society. If the answer is nobody, this denies the fact that SPs have power and society is not equal.
Model behavior does not demand exemplary behavior in the sense of being squeaky clean. SPs need not be superheroes. SPs are thoroughly human. Politics is the work of people and everyone makes mistakes. Fortunately SPs do not need to be superhuman, as it is precisely because they are human that they have a moral power of attraction over others. SPs do not have to be better people, either. The difference is primarily in the fact that SPs should work harder to act with integrity and to provide a model for others.