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The results of the BBHQ Insta-Poll for February are complete. Here is what over 200 boomers said:
1. Should our elected officials serve as role models and moral leaders? Yes: 73%; No: 27%.
2. Does it matter to you that the president has lied when asked questions about his personal life? Yes: 61%; No: 39%.
3. Might your answers to 1 and 2 be different if we were in an economic recession? Yes: 6%; No: 94%.
| Behind the Scenes |
There were 16 people who said that if we were in a recession, they would care more if the president had lied; but since we are not, it matters less. That speaks for itself and requires no further analysis from me.
| A Shortage of Positive Role Models |
| Who Are Our Role Models? |
In this regard, there was a flaw in the survey. Question 1 reads "Should our elected officials serve as role models and moral leaders?" Public figures do not have the luxury of deciding whether or not they wish to serve as role models. Like major league sports figures and Hollywood celebrities, when you are elected to a public office, you become a role model. Consciously or not, many kids and adults pattern their behavior after you. That's the reality of human behavior. Look at our current slang terms, our clothing fashions. Where do they come from; Peoria, Illinois? I don't think so. If you can't take the scrutiny, get out of the light. But you can't shirk from your responsibility; it goes with the territory. Neither Charles Barkley nor Bill Clinton can say that they do not wish to be considered role models. To a greater or lesser degree, all of our public figures are role models. "Do as I say, not as I do"? What kind of leadership is that?
So it is a moot point whether or not our public officials should serve as role models. They do. Period. Now the question is, are they positive or negative role models?
| To Tell The Truth |
Why do people lie? No, I'm not talking about when you tell your six year-old, "Yes honey, your little puppy will be with you for ever and ever." Or when you tell your mother-in-law that you enjoy her coming over every Sunday afternoon. (Although I might phrase it differently... if I had a mother-in-law.) You know what I am talking about. I guess in most cases it is because we assume people will think less of us if we tell the truth, or because we have some personal agenda for which the truth would be an impediment. People lie because they have something they want to hide.
That may explain "why," but it doesn't excuse it. What excuse is there for systematically lying to your spouse, to your boss, to your country? What is the excuse? Because they don't know better, because they aren't worthy of the truth, or because they can't handle the truth?
I understand why O.J. Simpson lied. But he could have said in public what he did in court: nothing. Oh he'd still be a murderer, just not a lying murderer.
A study in 1994 on lying and elected figures showed that we are more likely to believe them when they lie because we want to believe them, and because... they are good at lying. To me that means that we should just be more alert... and less tolerant. Why do we object when our boss or our child or our spouse lies, but not when our president lies? I just don't understand it. Why do we put up with less from our elected officials? Don't tell me, "They all do it." That's just all the more reason to be outraged, not indifferent.
I don't expect my elected officials to feed my children, to secure me a job, or to pay my electric bill. That's probably not within their power; and in any event, that is my responsibility. But I do expect them to tell the truth. That's their responsibility. They do not have to raise taxes to do so, they do not have to attend fundraisers to do so. All they have to do is tell the truth.
But if the president is not obligated to tell the truth, just who is?
It is a whole lot easier to say to ourselves, "Oh well, the president lies, my congressman lies, so I guess it is not so bad if I do." This president makes us feel better about our own weaknesses.
| The President As a Role Model |
And if you still think it is none of our business, then you are spitting in the wind against at least two of our greatest leaders. Franklin Roosevelt said that the job of the president is primarily one of moral leadership. And in 1765, John Adams said: "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people who have a right and a desire to know....But besides this... this they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable right, defined right, to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge. I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers."
Groping secretaries in the office as long as your wife says it's OK is excluded from this? I don't think so.
I know; some of you die-hards are saying you want to wait till all the evidence is in before you make a judgment. That's what the White House is counting on. And if they have their way, the evidence will never be in. That's their strategy for dealing with this; stonewall on the evidence and attack the accuser. But the presumption of innocence does not require the suspension of common sense. And common sense says that if the president didn't have anything to hide, he would not be trying so desperately hard to hide everything.
The women of this country should be more upset than the men. Hillary's silence and apparent acceptance of her husband's dalliances demeans women and disgraces the institution of marriage. As a man, I am embarrassed and ashamed. But if I were a woman, I would be outraged. It might be different if they were just the couple down the street, but they are the first family of this country. They set the tone. And Hillary's rage at an imaginary right-wing conspiracy while apparently accepting her husband's behavior is a national, social disgrace.
And if the president lies about his personal behavior, he will lie about anything to further his political or personal agenda. I can give you plenty of other examples, but that not my objective this week.
| The Sex Doesn't Matter: Another Voice |
"To avoid sounding Victorian, let me state the following social value as bluntly as possible: The boss is not allowed to boff the office help; managers can't grope the secretaries; sargeants can't screw the privates; neither Navy pilots nor U.S. Senators are free to get cheap sex from their subordinates. This rule of workplace conduct is already encoded in laws and regulations in private business practices and in society's unwritten expectations. Generals and politicians have been cashiered for this sort of abuse; professional careers have been ruined; men and women are regularly tossed out of the armed services for private, consensual, gay sexual relations. It's way too late to claim that the private life of the CEO (the president) is an issue only between him and his wife. The issue is not adultery; it's not which orifice may have been involved; the issue is right and wrong; abusing the power of a command position, taking advantage of someone who is dependent on the superior's approval is just plain wrong! The portrait of Monica Lewinsky as a lusty vixen stalking our president does not help his case; and if that's true, it makes him even more irresponsible."
- William Greider, member of that vast, right-wing conspiracy, in that far right-wing rag, Rolling Stone Magazine
And I would add that Kelly Flynn was thrown out of the Air Force not for having an affair with a married man, but for lying about it to her superior officers. Following my analogy... just who are the president's superior officers? We are... that's who! So don't tell me it's none of my business!
| The Boomers' Responsibility |
Comments on this essay? We'd like to hear from you. Click here.
Boomer comments:
"You may not represent all babyboomers, but my husband and I are in total agreement with your remarks about role models and integrity. We are mid-40's, with 5 children, ages 14-22. Responsibility goes with the territory. Period! I am outraged that the President of the United States represents our generation so poorly and has total disregard for truth, duty, or fidelity, except for his own sorry hide. I think many people feel somewhat powerless to effect change, but forums like yours provide an outlet to vent at least. Perhaps, our discontent, frustration, and moral outrage, are growing to the extent that we will become more vocal and active now. We must, for the sake of our children and the nation and world they will inherit from us." - KA
"Had I your writing skills, my comments on the need to tell the truth would be very similar to yours. Could it be that we allowed the President to convince us that as long as we are financially comfortable, his personal moral character is of no consequence to the nation or the world? If so, than shame on us. As a national people, our character, integrity, and values are judged by other nations based on what they see of those attributes in our leaders. We can't help it. World leaders don't stop by and talk with you or me. They visit with Clinton and base their judgements of the American people on what they see in him. I could go on and on agreeing with everything you said in your article, but that would be both time consuming and redundant. Instead I will congratulate you on another timely and brilliant Op-Ed on the need for Americans to revisit a time when we demanded better quality in our leaders. Slowly, I think, the tide may be begining to turn in that direction. Let us hope that public outrage, though silent if we believe the polls, will finally have an effect on the makeup of our national leadership in Washington. Only then, when we see respect for our leaders by both our allies and our enemys, can Americans feel proud of those who would represent us to the world view." - AFZ
| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"Vinyl Highway," by
Dee Dee Phelps. You remember her as Dee Dee, of Dick and Dee Dee.
Together, they took a decade long ride on the rock and roll roller
coaster. It was a heck of a ride! Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach
Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee
rubbed shoulders with all of them. This is her "behind the scenes" story.
It's pretty cool.
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Copyright © 1998 Baby Boomer HeadQuarters (BBHQ) All rights reserved.
rev. 11/27/98