Public Virtue and the Presidency

...No theoretical checks—no form of government can render us secure...

...Here, what I once considered to be a negligible departure from a mandatory quality might no longer hold...

...Suppose we all agree that honesty, truthfulness, trustworthiness, consideration for others, a certain industry, and intelligence are important qualities in such a consideration...

...For Adams, and to a lesser extent for Madison, temperance by its very nature induced men to "community-directedness.' ' Temperance puts less strain on the system because it makes inequality practicable and acceptable...

...Certainly, then, the people are a necessary part of the equation which yields republican community...

...What I consider only a preferable quality may be mandatory to my grandmother living in the Midwest...

...Why not a kind of national university, particularly as we approach our 200th anniversary...

...checks and balances could prevent some abuses, but in a system which allowed multiple channels of participation, something more was required—an individual effort, and then effort by the polity, to see themselves as part of the community...

...First, we may say that by becoming a public official, an individual gives up much of his privacy...

...It has been pointed out by numerous scholars that if the people are told they can participate, they must be given more than the ballot box...

...We may argue that a "formal" religion is not mandatory in our leaders, but can we argue that decisively...

...The criticism will be made that Adams was writing of a very different politics than we experience today—but that is exactly the point...

...Our problem, however, consists in deciding which qualities we would consider "mandatory...

...The statement of James Madison, at the Virginia Constitutional Convention, was even stronger: "I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom...

...and that it would lead to lessening the strains on government seems an equally likely proposition...

...Consequently, it becomes even more important that the President understand, and communicate as far as possible, the motives, the reason, and even the passions that went into the creation of this Republic...

...You and I, asfriends, build up a relationship based on trust, on mutual respect, on mutual expectations and acceptance...

...Checks and balances are no cure for intemperance, or for the selfishness which often results from that intemperance...

...Good advisors or no, a knowledge and general grasp of the Constitution and its laws, and, as far as possible, the rights and duties of the citizen, seem mandatory in a test of Presidential intelligence...

...Every President, with his different personality, has followed his own particular, and oft peculiar, course...

...But to be remiss in three or four...

...While just men may obey only out of fear, the righteous man has a certain nobility or gallantry attached to his character...

...Particularly, he argued, it is the job of the President, both by discussion and by example, to assist in generating that discussion of fundamentals, to generate that community which may grow from "recalling the lost images of virtue: contemplating them, and using them as motives of actions...

...In fact, when Adams spoke of the importance of separation of powers, in his Defence of the Constitutions of the United States, he spoke of them not just as a means of preventing corruption, but as a means of clearing away the obstacles to public virtue...

...Now, are we to say that if one were remiss in instilling one of these qualities, one would be an unworthy parent, and the rest of the work would be for nought...

...We may say that once we have decided that honesty is a mandatory quality, we are not particularly perturbed to find that the President accepted a diamond ring for his wife from the Saudi Arabian ambassador...

...Temperance does not set individuals against each other...

...Public virtue, more than love of one's country, does what domestic affection does among friends...

...The American community was a unique combination of mind and heart, a way of life as well as a method of governing...

...Perhaps we should summon only "the best and the brightest...

...But the President must not only impart a rational understanding of the rights and duties of the citizens...

...Contrary to Mr...

...But just what are "reasonable expectations" ? Or, more importantly, what should they be...

...Consequently, the other aforementioned qualities become even more crucial...

...That the Constitution provides for such varying modes of participation presupposes individuals who act with some discretion...

...a passion for the public good (Gerald Stourzh, Alexander Hamilton and the Idea of Republican Government, Stanford, 1970, p. 65...

...If they surrender the guidance for any course of time to any one passion, they may depend upon finding it in the end, an usurping, cruel, domineering tyrant...

...Whether a Harvard education is better than a Georgetown degree, a science background, judging from the bent of modern society, more applicable than a liberal arts background, cannot be discussed here...

...But more than that, they must be given a sense of community, of "community-directedness," a sense of what it means to he an intelligent and participating citizen...

...And it is possible that just this kind of reporting might eventually contribute to a different climate for discussion...

...But must we call on my grandmother in order to reach agreement, particularly since I am now so well-educated and even live on the East Coast...

...For temperance is moderation...

...he must also convey and inspire the affections and trust which ultimately support that understanding...

...Rather, their understanding of it was extremely complex in meaning and encompassed several ethical conceptions: the Christian virtues of brotherly love, humility, fear of God...

...Suffice it to say we would require that neither children nor madmen rule...

...I, like many others, was recently seduced into listening to and reading the accounts of the Hearings of the House Judiciary Committee, as it considered for the first time in 106 years the possible impeachment of the President of the United States...

...No less so my next consideration—an open and generous mind...

...Today, we agree less about the nature of civic virtue, although if we were questioned, I think we could reach some sort of consensus on what qualities we would "like" our leaders to possess...

...Today, Ithink we need look at the Christian life as one of those possible conditions...

...I am often reminded of Tocqueville's counsel that although democracy was less efficient than other governmental forms, the objects it had in view were more useful to humanity But Tocqueville, and we, assumed a certain minimum level of efficiency could, and can, be met...

...Although the Founding Fathers considered intelligence, or book learning, important, they were more concerned that men who knew what was right, did what was right...

...But how can government, or the President, carry out such civic education,when, at present, we have a group of individuals—the press—determining what the public will know...

...Negligence may be a cause for damages in that it holds the potential for unwarranted disrespect...

...He must do so, as we have established earlier, in order that he be a visible example in the community...

...John Dickinson, in his Letters of Fabius, remarked: "The government will partake of the qualities of those whose authority is prevalent...

...In treating the ethics of the Founding Fathers, scholars have largely neglected the first two conceptions, focusing on the latter—virtue as a passion for the public good—and the evidence for their focus is voluminous, particularly in the writings of Alexander Hamilton, or in Madison's Federalist No...

...Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan makes this distinction clear when he defines the just man as the man who obeys the law, while the righteous man "taketh all the care he can, that his Actions may be all Just...

...But just recently a vice-presidential running mate lost his nomination because of a distressing matter, which had prompted him to see a psychiatrist...

...Madison, when arguing the value of the Bill of Rights, declared that although he felt that they couldn't be declared with the requisite latitude, the political truths inscribed there might, by degrees, acquire the characteristics of fundamentals...

...Many of the Framers of the Republic argued that men become good or bad, virtuous or vicious, according to the spirit of government they are under...

...I doubt it...

...A more relevant question about intelligence concerns the person of moderate intelligence who can command "good" advisors...

...Both Madison and John Adams were quick to point to the importance of well-ordered souls as well as well-ordered checks and balances...

...Checks and balances were no bars to faction in the intemperate republics he often described...

...Or not to tell us of them, if they get along well with him...

...Patrick Henry, among others, deemed the members of the Constitutional Convention wiser and more patriotic than the state legislators, and therefore more to be trusted in the governance of the country...

...Both Madison and Adams spoke of a kind of national university where persons might debate on political subjects, improve their talents, and thus become more capable of serving the public...

...it cannot be claimed a result of social or economic advantage...

...Where do we draw the line and say, "This leader has failed" ? Certainly, no one would deny that intelligence, some formal education, an ability to make decisions and to judge economic trends, and common sense are necessary to an ability to govern...

...For example, Madison's Second Annual Message: "By enlightening the opinions, by expanding the patriotism, and by assimilating the principles, the sentiments, and the manners of those who might resort to this temple of science, to be redistributed in due time through every part of the community, sources of jealousy and prejudice would be diminished, the features of national character would be multiplied, and greater extent given to social harmony...

...it could be trusted only when qualified with every necessary moral ingredient...

...Every civilized community requires, in order that it may exist at all, a mutual recognition of rights and duties on the part of its members...

...Temperance is a quality all may possess...

...For example, you and I might consider honesty as a noteworthyquality...

...Public virtue not only consists of love of one's country, but is collective by nature as well...

...Consequently, it is difficult, if not downright impossible, for the spirit of public virtue to exist in ruler but not in ruled, or vice versa...

...But must we throw the baby out with the bathwater, must we reject Christian virtues, or the wisdom of the ancients, if we argue jettisoning the notion of a vengeful God...

...Is a Congressman's midnight ride around the tidal basin without a proper lookout, even though not influencing his ability to make decisions, a sufficient violation of civic virtue so as to erode his ability to generate its discussion...

...Some may object that this kind of a discussion on public virtue is irrelevant, particularly since many of the Founders of the Republic viewed man as a nasty, brutish, and short animal primarily ruledby his passions, and therefore opted for constitutional rather than moral or internal checks on those holding public office...

...and three, intimate details about sexual practices (Emerson, p. 550...

...Traditionally, the test for privacy has been, one, a private debt...

...until they acquire habitual virtue...

...Certainly, the situation demands that we look for standards—the risks, the benefits involved in such a disclosure...

...But I think we can and should establish some formulas for a public posture...

...There will be several objections to this proposition...

...I, for one, would not be adverse to having the thoughts and sentiments of James Madison, Fisher Ames, John Dickinson, or Thomas Jefferson assimilated by the President and members of Congress...

...two, distressing matters of the past...

...Most of us would agree, I think, that a President must be intelligent enough to he able to form his own judgments on matters, a feeble but still extant protection from faulty advisors...

...For Madison, there were certain circumstances where the public good could prosper without external checks on the passions (Federalist No...

...But does the press have a duty to tell us of, say, sexual indiscretions on his part...

...The danger was, and is, not simply corruption, but a system otherwise so concerned with petty regulations that stagnation results...

...John Adams cited the need for public virtue, the ability of the republican constitution to raise moral sentiments...

...Does the press have a right to defame public officials...

...Second, there is the problem of degree...

...It recognized that stability depends less on policy agreement than on good feelings between governors and governed...

...Perhaps they are more to be trusted...

...If there be not, we are in a wretched situation...

...Although still separate and discrete individuals, we see ourselves as a community as well, without loss of our individuality...

...The doctrines of checks and balances and separation of powers have recently gotten a considerable workout along the publishing track, and rightly so...

...and when our leader betrays our trust, when, as Congressman Butler put it, he follows a "course of conduct totally inconsistent with the reasonable expectations of the American people," he may in fact be removed from office...

...it is related less to command of a substantive body of knowledge than to a particular quality necessary to a healthy relationship with the civic body...

...Our Constitution did, and does, demand this...

...The Supreme Court test for damages in libel cases involving newsworthy individuals has concurred, designating malice rather than negligence (Emerson, p. 552...

...Madison and Adams, remarkably enough, did not neatly forswear consideration of the content of civic virtue, perhaps because it was less a subject of dispute in an age when scarlet letters were handed out, sometimes with great relish...

...But I think we must ask how negligence, not just malice, on the part of the press, affects the climate for creation and maintenance of public virtue...

...Take the case of those qualities we would wish a parent to instill in a child, in forming a decent person and competent citizen...

...But what if the President were influential in making a corn deal, netting an immense sum for a large contributor to his campaign...

...I think we can reach agreement on certain standards for us, and our leaders, to hold dear...

...But initiating discussion does not mean prescribing discussion...

...Is there no virtue among us...

...I will argue that temperance is necessary to the republican constitution, that the lack of moderation puts too much strain on the system...

...This responsibility of the President to be a civic educator, to generate a particular type of community, has surprisingly been ignored...

...A President's sexual exploits may only inspire a twinkle in my eye, while to hers it brings fire...

...it does not direct itself solely to enlarging or aggrandizing itself...

...It has been stated that the people have a right to defame public officials, and that the goal of the First Amendment is the protection of free expression of private persons, not of those of the government (Thomas Emerson, The System of Freedom of Expression, pp...

...Adams was concerned not just with virtue or justice as the appendages of events, the rational determination of pleasure or pain, or the greatest good for the greatest number, but also with the influence of virtue on the possessor...

...And the means, the manner in which disclosed, are of crucial import here...

...Although disagreement lifted her skirts and ran rampant among the members, what struck me particularly was that among both proponents and opponents there appeared a common, and most uncommon, theme—the Presidency is the repository of the-trust and faith of the American people...

...Government growth and bureaucracy have contributed to the amorphous definition of the code of conduct necessary to this trust, and-faith, which the Founding Fathers sometimes named public virtue...

...This balance which I call temperance or moderation encounters the Medusa of problems earlier mentioned...

...On the contrary, I believe we can distinguish degrees of -mandatoriness," and potential harm, when we compare having had one or two liaisons in the past on the part of a leader with a leader who encourages orgies in the White House...

...But: Is it preferred or mandatory...

...Adams recognized that the republican constitution demands not just constitutional checks and balances, but moderation and a concern to act rightly, first, because of the sheer numbers involved in democratic participation, and second, the inability of government to regulate such actions only out of a "fear of consequences...

...It is not easy to determine just what behavior is necessary for a proper discussion of public virtue...

...Just as it is sheer nonsense to assume that the President can take cognizance of and deliberate on all of the matters facing him, it is also nonsense to believe that he simply spews forth what his advisors tell him...

...I, for one, would not be adverse to seeing these thoughts reported and published by the press and the media throughout the states...

...Again, it will be admitted that what offends my grandmother may not necessarily offend me...

...464, 532...

...but I do not think that problem necessarily resolves itself into requiring a virgin, or disclosing that fact...

...Henry, I think the question of public trust demands that in fact we do have to reach out to the public...

...He is more than a governor...

...Is this too difficult a task...

...On the contrary, one of the reasons for the lack of public participation is the dwindling of discussion of these types of considerations...

...But the evidence is not all that clear that the Founding Fathers opted for constitutional checks on power to the extent that they pruned out all concern about the character of individuals who would hold those offices...

...What kind of behavior erodes this trust and faith...

...That an increase in this discussion would increase humanity does not seem improbable...

...Although most references were to local officials, to civic or city virtue, and to the visibility of leaders at that level, it can be argued that, due to the influence of the media and the trend to the nationalization of problems, both social and political, that our Framers' concern is more related today to national leaders...

...Rather, it allows and even demands time devoted to those other qualities: knowledge, judgment, information, and integrity...

...If we posit that humility and concern for our fellowmen are mandatory, what about the next argument which considers formal religion the best means of achieving those mandatory qualities...

...Now, I am all for teaching students how to think, but what about teaching them our history, what about common touchstones—civic education...

...But I am far from sure that we should ignore those first two conceptions of virtue, Christian virtue and the wisdom of the ancients...

...But how do we create and maintain public trust in them...

...That we discuss just exactly what public or civic virtue is today, is particularly important if we are to decrease the strains on the system...

...As Fisher Ames has written, "They [the people] see a monarch in Washington, and conspirators in their patriots . . . . They turn the best men out of office on the strength of their suspicions . . . The task for us, and for the press, is to determine what kinds of information should be deemed private...

...The process of decision-making is as important as the decision itself when we come to the creation of public trust...

...The republican constitutional system demanded a person who acted rightly, apart from mere consideration of consequences...

...Most families that survive discuss and acknowledge the chores of each member, for example, how the child behaves if Mother or Father becomes ill—or stays well...

...Neither did the Founders of this Republic ignore the wisdom of the ancients...

...Is it' enough to disclose the facts, or must we publish a naughty little picture of his companion as well...

...The kind of facts presented and the manner in which they are presented certainly influence the spirit in which those leaders are viewed, as to their ability to participate in generating a sense of community...

...the teaching of the ancients on the identity of virtue with highest wisdom...

...The Founders did not rebuff public virtue, as has sometimes been supposed...

...Witness Adams in his Defence of the Constitutions of the United States: "Men should endeavor at a balance of affections and appetites, under the monarchy of reason and conscience within, as well as at a balance of power without...

...This relationship between civic virtue and knowledge is most complex, and moderns may have gotten the cart before the horse—or the wrong kind of horse...

...I will argue that it should be deemed mandatory that the leader be a prime participant in generating a certain kind of community, to be a moral leader in the community...

...To make the problem even more formidable, we might also maintain that none of the qualities we have decided upon can be considered in isolation...

...Alexis de Tocqueville, in Democracy in America, preferred the American to the French system of government, because it sprang as much from the heart as from the mind...

...Second, it may be argued that the job of the President is so complex, that society is so complex, and that people pay so little attention to public life, that neither does he have the time nor would it do any good to become involved in generating civic discussion...

...I will not argue here that temperance is valuable because it yields a better person, although I believe that...

...and just so, each member has a right to expect certain reasonable behavior from the other members, based on past behavior, and those mutually shared and stated modes of acting...

...Yet a President, and perhaps several, encouraged a myriad of sexual trysts, and still remained in the White House...

...Madison notes that there was no greater maxim that required elucidation than the principle of majority rule...

...This suggestion is far from outmoded today...

...Madison, in addresses to members of Congress, was careful to thank Providence for the blessings bestowed on this country, and it does not simply seem to be a parroting of what Mother Madison taught him...

...Noah Webster was even stronger in his statement, arguing that unless virtue, both as common social duties and as Christian virtue which leads citizens to act for the good of the state, were mandatory, the Republic could not be preserved...

...Those Christian virtues penetrated the man, had an effect on the kind of man and kind of leader he was...

...There has been no consensus on the proprieties to be followed by high-ranking officials...

...First, it will be noted that it would be too easy for a President to assert his prejudices to be the "truth" about our history, leaving us open to the risk of totalitarianism...

...Perhaps someone else would argue the reading of Plato and Aristotle...

...he is representative of a way of life, a symbol of tradition...

...Public trust succeeds from performance of a cluster of "virtues...

...I have stated that Adams recognized that the republican system demanded that virtue exist not simply as a result of checks and balances which force a passion for the public good, and as citizen obedience to law, but that virtue consist as well in intention, the attempt to act rightly...

...What I have been saying stresses the very public nature of what makes up public virtue, although I have been talking about what one might refer to as goods of the soul...

...Here, several points are in order...

...Although I mentioned this relationship as particularly important, we will discuss it here only in relation to disclosure of a leader's very private morality, and how it relates to the qualities we deem mandatory in that leader...

...The Founding Fathers may have been overly pained by the Protestant work ethic—temperance, frugality, industry, and an oft-vengeful God...