Ethics aren't as complicated as lawmakers assert

Ethics, what's all the fuss about? Isn't that something we already learned when we were kids, starting at home, school and church? Yet, grown-up lawmakers continue to keep trying to figure out what constitutes unethical behavior and how to police it.

We can give ethics all kinds of fancy definitions — moral values, guiding philosophy, ideals — but isn't it knowing right from wrong; how to get along with others? It's what we were taught by our parents at the dinner table and by our neighbors in their backyards, on how to play with others. If we took a piece of candy off the store rack without paying for it, we had to take it to the store manager and apologize.

But the big shocker was when we started school and found out that we were no longer the center of the universe. That's where we really started to grow from little rascals to civilized humans. We were taught how to share, to wait in line, to put things back, to play fair and even not to run with scissors. On the playground, when we had arguments, we might have ended up with a bloody nose, but we eventually learned how to "use your words."

At church, what our parents taught us about right and wrong, and honesty and fairness were reinforced by religious teachings. We also learned about "love thy neighbor" and believing in something beyond self. Somehow, though we may falter at times, all those teachings took hold and we became good people guided only by the inner voices of our parents — our moral compass.

It's why I don't understand our elected leaders' struggle with what constitutes ethical behavior. Their big push now is "transparency," where they want state agencies to put on their Web sites all transactions, from how much they spend on pencils to the bidding process, so taxpayers know how their taxes are spent. Yet they keep using what looks like smoke-and-mirror tactics when it comes to their reporting on gifts, $49 vs. $50, and full disclosure on campaign contributions – actual amounts and who were the contributors. They want agency leaders to be held accountable, but not themselves. What would their moms say?

Dancing all around on deciding what is ethical only makes the public more suspicious and disillusioned about lawmakers. They may be ethical, but the perception is that they are hiding something. What is there to hide? Now they have formed a committee to study the ethics complaint process after an alleged violation, rather than having clear rules to guide their behavior with public disclosure of any violation. After all, aren't they adults who were taught ethics by their parents – right from wrong, honesty, integrity? Ethics is taught early in life, not learned later or enforced by law enforcers.