Fox News carried a story (August 4, 2014) entitled: “Pressure Builds on Walsh to Resign over Plagiarism.” What is at question is political ethics.
The article states that John Walsh, the Democrat junior senator from Montana after he was caught in a plagiarism scandal. It has been surmised that his error, “could cost him his master’s degree and military rank.” Walsh is currently running for re-election.
According to the article, “Walsh has been reeling since the NYT [New York Times] reported that he plagiarized large swaths of a research paper he submitted to the Army War College in 2007.”
The Montana Standard newspaper in Butte, Montana, talked with Walsh as to why he plagiarized.
“Walsh has offered no suggestions for resolving his error, other than to throw himself on the mercy of the War College board now investigating the plagiarism. So allow us: The senator should immediately forfeit the degree and offer to redo the paper properly.”
For Walsh’s part, he has been apologizing all over the state and it has been reported that he denies guilt and then went on to blame his actions on post-traumatic stress disorder, which is an insult to any soldier who has ever suffered PTSD in any war, anywhere.
Back-tracking and strange dealings
Not surprising, the senator has withdrawn his PSTD claim and while he was at it, the people who are running his election campaign misstated his service record. However in a year where the balance in the senate is critical, we learn the following:
“The Obama administration has taken the unusual step of having the Pentagon jump in on the investigation rather than letting the school proceed on its own, so it is unclear how long the process will take. Walsh was considered Democrats’ best hope to hold the seat in the wake of the retirement of former Sen. Max Baucus.”
It could mean that the school is incapable of conducting a plagiarism investigation (which is absurd); it could also mean that the current administration is so incensed at one of its own committing a crime that it will do its best to investigate this case as a priority (which is highly unlikely) or that the investigation will now take so painfully long that Senator Walsh will be a great-grandfather by the time the Pentagon concludes its study (almost guaranteed to say that the results are inclusive).
Whether Republican or Democrat, this case strikes to the heart of the unethical swamp that characterizes politics.
The man is accused of plagiarism and he may lose his degree and military commission. He has already stone-walled by at first claiming PTSD (then rescinding), and now the Democratic administration seems to be going to bat for one of its own. By the way, your 10th grader could easily run a plagiarism software program; it does not need the Pentagon.
Here is my take on the situation: why not try shame?
Why not stand up in front of the populace of Montana and his own party and admit he made a terrible, terrible ethical error? Say it straight and say it honest.
Not an idealist, just ethical
Unless something shocking occurs, I cannot imagine a senator admitting his guilt and his shame. We don’t wire our public servants that way. We should, but we don’t and all of us lose.
Minimally, politicians need to be taught that anything they do is recorded and remembered, so it is better to be ethical in how you approach life than not. They need to be taught consequences.
If you ask the average voter about ethics you are often likely to get a blank stare. However, if you ask the average voter about a politician who was caught cheating or committing a crime, they will remember.
I am not a political idealist; I know exactly what it is all about or at least what it has become. I believe it can be different.
