29. Integrity is expressing well-thought-out viewpoints
Having your own views is an essential virtue for SPs because it shows you are autonomous and stand for something. A standpoint has integrity if it (1) is well-thought- out, (2) is unified with an SP’s ideals and identity, and (3) is expressed. However, silence is often imposed on SPs for the sake of collective integrity. This makes it all the more important that SPs use the freedom their positions provide to express standpoints with integrity.
“A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues,” said former president Theodore Roosevelt.140 An SP without an opinion cannot easily be seen as having integrity. Having your own opinion shows autonomy and independent thought, an indication that you are not led by what others, the majority, or policy makers think. Having your own viewpoint shows that you stand for something. A minister was praised for his integrity in the media when he took a stand on the liberation of three war criminals, despite the fact that this met with fierce resistance in parliament and society. Similarly, a member of parliament was praised for her stand on strengthening women’s rights in her country despite a great deal of opposition, and a senator was praised internationally when he firmly denounced government corruption.
It is not only a question of having a point of view, but of viewpoints showing integrity. Such viewpoints must be well-thought-out and consistent with your ideals and identity. An SP who has a viewpoint but wavers at the first sign of opposition fails to exhibit support for a well- thought-out position. Such SPs will be seen as impulsive, superficial, and immature, not as good examples of integrity.
At the same time it is not always easy to come to a well-thought-out viewpoint.141 New questions can suddenly come up requiring a direct response and sometimes there is no time for careful consideration. The plethora of documents can also lead people to lean heavily on what others tell them. Some may even take advantage and abuse this fact. SPs with no views of their own are easily suggestible to others, leading to accusations that they are easily swayed or manipulated, or vulnerable to bad influence. Associates such as employees and colleagues may promote this effect by filling an SP’s agenda, raising issues at the last minute, and overwhelming the SP with information. Even their free time may be filled to avoid giving them time to think for themselves.142
Having views with integrity is therefore important, but it is just as important to stand up for them. Say what you think and think what you say. French philosopher Michel Foucault calls this parrhesia, speaking openly.143 Only then can others see what a person stands for. If a person expresses no opinions, they stand for nothing, as in the case of a French mayor who strayed from the well-trodden path by spending five days on hunger strike in a tent in front of the government buildings because he felt his commune, with high unemployment and low incomes, should not have to help pay for the crisis. Only when the government promised constructive help did he stop his protest.144
However this does not mean that SPs must have views on all issues. Integrity is a question of having views on matters relating to one’s own ideals and identity, making SPs who they want to be. For this they need the freedom to express their consciences. In doing so, they show what they consider important and worth supporting, laying a connection between their position and their personal identity, and showing that they are prepared to stand up for this. Conformity is often the easiest option, the path of least resistance, whereas going against the grain shows not only that you stand for something but also that you are strong. For instance a member of parliament spoke about her experiences of the negative consequences of conformity: “I thought, I’ll vote differently from the others [in my party] for once. The party chairwoman said, do what you please, but remember, you can only be the village idiot once. … You’re under pressure to express yourself exactly as everyone else does …. When I came in I was armed to the teeth. I now realize I’m well on my way to becoming precisely the person I don’t want to be.”145 By conforming and silencing your own conscience, you lose yourself. That is why it is important that SPs have the freedom to express their consciences.
The difficult and sometimes tragic aspect of an SP’s position is that it generally offers little freedom to air individual opinions on politics and administrative subjects publicly, so that individual integrity is less clear. Administrators and politicians are often expected not to express their opinions on subjects outside their own remit in public, and officials and employees are even e