Ethics As a Way Out

The playwright Bertolt Brecht was asked once what he thought about ethics. He replied, “Grub first, then ethics.”

Grub, for those unfamiliar with Depression-era argot, is a term meaning food, such as, “We gotta get us some grub.” Then we gotta get us some ethics.

What Brecht was saying in a metaphorical sense was that survival comes before morality. You eat first, then pray for the soul of the man you just murdered for his pot roast.

I mention this by way of approaching efforts by the L.A. City Council to create a code of ethics for itself so that its members will know precisely what they can get away with in terms of public impiety.

That’s not exactly the way they put it, but that’s what it amounts to.

A council committee has adopted an ethics package that would guide the behavior of L.A.’s public officials. While possibly commendable, it is not an act of high conscience. They did it to head off a citizens’ initiative that was even tougher.

It’s a politician’s way of promising atonement as a way of avoiding hell.

The proposal, if approved by the full council and then us voters, would prohibit public officials from accepting honoraria (that means money), free trips and most gifts from persons other than relatives.

A tie from your sister is OK, a Lamborghini from a bank doing business with the city is not. Acting as an adviser for the Hog Institute of Omaha is OK, taking money as a consultant for a downtown high-rise construction company is not.

To avoid confusion, an ethics commission will pass judgment on matters relating to public morality in individual cases.

Ultimately, of course, there will be a code of conduct for the ethics commission so that its members will know precisely what gifts they might accept from those upon whom they are passing judgment.

And so ad infinitum.

Some sort of ethics bible is obviously required for those in positions of public responsibility. We seem to consistently elect people who become addled about right and wrong in the rarefied atmosphere of power politics.

They’ll lead us in prayers and hymns, all right, understanding how much God loves a disciple, but go blank when it comes to avoiding temptations of the wallet.

Mayor Tom Bradley comes to mind, as he warms in a political frying pan, and state Sen. Joseph B. Montoya, whose hide is just now beginning to sizzle over an open fire.

Even U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, just a heartbeat away from political canonization, is being called to account in the scandal involving the collapse of Lincoln Savings & Loan.

Will it never end?

Probably not, says USC political scientist Sheldon Kamieniecki. Public corruption has been going on since the Age of Aristotle and will no doubt continue into the hereafter, with angels shuffling for power in the kingdom of God.

I spoke with Kamieniecki in an effort to overcome my own feelings of scorn and cynicism toward the clowns, I mean elected officials, who govern us.

Does a legislator really need a code of ethics to tell him it is immoral and indecent to sell his vote or, say, to accept a free trip to sweet places from a condom lobbyist trying to persuade him to introduce a safe sex law?

“The problem,” said Kamieniecki, “is they figure everyone else is doing it, so why not them? They don’t put it that way because it makes them look stupid, but that’s what’s in their heads.”

He speculates that money and status are among the elements that lure public officials into violating public trust.

“They try to live up to a life style the job creates,” he said. “If you’re going to be a leader, you’ve got to live like one to prove your importance.”

Enhancing this concept, according to Kamieniecki, is the growing amount of money being paid to sports figures and entertainers.

A congressman sees a kid getting $16 million for his ability to throw a football or a rock star earning megabucks for biting off the head of a live chicken on stage and thinks, Why not me?

Since balls and chickens are not a part of legislative government, the politician seeks other sources of extra revenue, and selling his soul to a vested interest seems to be one.

A government code of conduct that embraces pay increases and campaign reforms is a good idea for now, Kamieniecki says, but the hope of heaven on earth lies in raising everyone’s ethical standards and moral values.

By feeding the conscience along with the stomach, we might even create a moral imperative that puts ethics on a level of importance almost equaling that of grub.