The State as a Bad Example

I enjoyed the debate on SIC Notícias last night, which reached the conclusion that, so long as public figures behave in an unacceptable fashion, there is no hope for society.

The case in point was Fátima Felgueiras, who has immense popular support despite (allegedly) stealing from the very council that she ran "because everybody has their finger in the pie". No shame. No resignation from office. Worse, she's running for re-election as an independent!

The same principle applies to all aspects of public life. The military, who earn relatively badly, have elaborate schemes to skim off supplies for personal gain, from food to office supplies to appliances and building works on their own houses. They nearly all do it, always have. How can that be condemned if everybody knows and nobody acts?

Then we have traffic laws. Politicians (and lowly policemen) don't keep to the speed limit; abuse their privileges to overtake rush-hour queues on the hard shoulder. This cannot be justified by security considerations. Why should your average citizens worry about compliance if they have bad examples to follow?

The public have to demand ethical behaviour from public figures, not follow their bad examples...