Is an honest elected official an oxymoron?

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JoeShlabotnik

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An honest elected official. Is this an oxymoron?
Is it possible for a person to run for an elected office, yet to maintain his or her Christian morals?
It seems like politicians either lie to gain an elected position or lie once they are elected to that position.
It’s been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Thoughts?
 
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I’m sure some small rural areas have honest politicians.
 
I’ve spent my career working with politicians. Nearly all of them were/are honest and decent people who really aren’t in it for themselves.
 
What do you all think of Ryan T Anderson? Is he the honest Catholic that got elected. If so he is a counterexample.
 
JoeShlabotnik said:
An honest elected official. Is this an oxymoron?
Is it possible for a person to run for an elected office, yet to maintain his or her Christian morals?
It seems like politicians either lie to gain an elected position or lie once they are elected to that position.
It’s been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Thoughts?
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It may also be true that the masses reward lies and deceitful tactics.
 
JoeShlabotnik said:
Is it possible for a person to run for an elected office, yet to maintain his or her Christian morals?
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Yes, look at Jacob Rees-Mogg, he gets lots of abuse for maintain his Catholic beliefs, it’s really bad when they hurl abuse at his young children for his beliefs, imagine if he was a muslim there would be uproar at his treatment.
Rees-Mogg and his wife attempted to usher two children inside: “Lots of people don’t like your daddy, do you know that? He probably hasn’t told you that. Lots of people hate him.”
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I like him.

 
I think the higher you climb up the ladder, the more and more difficult it becomes to completely retain your integrity.

I’ve lamented before what the odds are of a devout Catholic becoming president in a democracy and they seem to be almost impossible. Somebody who:

A) Completely opposes abortion in all circumstances
B) Takes Just War Doctrine 100% seriously. This will make their support collapse in the Republican and even in the Democratic party.
C) Supports legislation based on the sanctity of marriage and the family.

They would get torn to pieces on the finer issues by the moral majority. A candidate can support these issues up to a certain extent, but if they abide by them wholly they are carded as “weird” and never go beyond a minor candidate. You can have a devout Catholic monarch but I’m not sure how feasible it is to have a devout Catholic president or prime minister, like a democratic equivalent to St Louis of France or St Elizabeth of Hungary. I just don’t know how, short of a literal miracle.
 
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Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:24-26
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Your question reminds me of this story.

With God all things are possible

How about St Thomas More? There must be others who provide us a way to consider the question.
 
JoeShlabotnik said:
Donald Trump?
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Many politicians. Making promises they obviously can’t keep. And also just on the voter base being more interested in sound bytes and “gotchas” and grandiose statements than any type of nuanced policy discussion. And those who just say make up their own narrative.

I had no specific man or woman in mind. It seems to just be one of the downsides to the system. And I’m not saying there’s a better system.
 
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