Political Scandals are nothing new...they're bound to happen once in awhile because there's always gonna be someone now and then who allows temptation to get the best of them. Ideally, incidents of political scandal should occur years apart from each other. Nowadays, they seem to occur monthly if not weekly. The number of scandals in our public servants reflects negatively on our culture as a whole. Greed, arrogance and situational ethics have grown like a cancer in our society. There are fewer and fewer people in America capable of holding public office with total honesty and integrity. Where are the men and women we can trust to carry out the best interests of those who they work for—the American people? Some of the ones who are capable of leading with integrity simply refuse to dip their toe in the Washington cesspool.

  The scandals cross party lines, from Ted Stevens to Rod Blagojevich. And is it just me, or are the improprieties getting worse?

  But let's take a little bit of a different look at the most recent scandal—the Blagojevich affair. We don't need to rehash the details of what he did...let's ask this question...what does the scandal say about the people of Illinois? Now, no one is saying that everyone in Illinois is corrupt. And this question is not about picking on Illinois...these scandals occur in every state. Yet, it is true that Illinois does have a reputation for corrupt politics, especially in Chicago. People are always mentioning the Daley machine and all that. So maybe Illinois is a good example.

  OK...to make it fair, we'll generalize the question...whenever a political scandal occurs in a community, what does it say about the people of that community? Now of course, a scandal does not implicate everyone...but let's keep in mind that these people who break the trust of those they serve were elected by the people of their community.

  I'm not claiming to have all the answers on this topic....but I do think that one thing the Blagojevich scandal does reflect is a lack of accountability. This is especially true when a community has multiple scandals committed by multiple people.

  Hello people of Illinois! Where are you?

  One of the beautiful aspects of our democracy is how much power the people have over their leadership. Blagojevich will be out of office soon...but how did he get this far? If the people of Illinois kept a closer watch on their leaders, these indiscretions would be much less frequent. And this is true for every state and community in America. If voters would pay closer attention to the character of those who run for office, and hold them to a high ethical standard, we will all be better off.

  Does the amount of political scandals reflect a low level of morality in the people of the United States? Is there too much tolerance of bad behavior by our public servants? Do enough people really care?

  What are your thoughts?