As a Jewish rabbi and a registered Republican here in Josephine County ethics is very important to me. In all that we do, we should strive to be ethical individuals. Jewish ethics are often also Christian ethics. After all, we gave the Ten Commandments to our Christian brothers and sisters.
The Ninth Commandment is to tell the truth – or put another way – to not lie about others. This is both a Jewish ethical standard as well as a Christian one. Embracing the value of the this commandment means committing to truthfulness in all aspects of our lives. It’s about being honest in our words and actions, even when it’s challenging. It’s about understanding that our integrity is not just a personal virtue but a societal necessity.
And this is what most concerned me about the outcome of our most recent elections. The local Republican Party engaged in lies about the people they did not want to be elected in order to defeat them. Politically, they were successful with these lies and their preferred candidates were elected.
But at what cost?
The cost was violating the Ninth Commandment in order to obtain political power. Frankly, I am shocked and disappointed that the party put winning over their integrity. This casts a huge taint on the ‘victory’ by being dishonest and also causes the county to have lower quality candidates – particularly in the county commissioner’s office. The local Republican Party is harmed by their lies as well as the county voters.
Some will say this is only “sour grapes” because ethical candidates I preferred, such as Republican Colene Martin for county commissioner, were not elected. I would be perfectly fine with the outcome of the elections if they were honest. The problem is – they weren’t – and the dishonesty came from Republican leadership. For those who are Jewish or Christian Republicans, we may need to change our leadership in the county to be more ethical so that we may be proud of local political races that are won “fair and square.”
