Ethics in GovernmentEthics in Government infographic by John Bandler. See my webpage and Udemy course on Ethics in Government

by John Bandler

Ethics in Government is an important concept for a nation built on laws, a government for the people, by the people. A nation of law means fair rules and fair processes, not a monarchy, dictatorship, oligarchy, or system where government officials can enrich themselves, their friends, and their family.

Principles of good governance and good government indicate that ethics is an essential trait and principle within government. This means that voters should select government officials by considering ethics, and should work to ensure ethics is considered at all levels and aspects of government.

Ethics and good moral character should be the top trait when selecting a candidate for a government position (or any position). That is because if someone is inclined to lie, cheat, or steal, it does not matter how competent, smart, experienced, or capable they are. If they cannot be trusted, it does not matter what they say they will do, what they say they did in the past, or if their stated opinions or positions align with ours.

I built this article and an online course to try bring these thoughts to other people.

Ethics in sum

"Ethics" is a type of rule or a standard of conduct, often a rule we impose on ourselves. Synonyms include morals, character, integrity. Usually it is a higher standard of conduct than simply "don't violate a criminal law" or "don't violate a civil law".

To me, ethics is about doing the right thing, for the right reason, serving the right interests. Analyzing the proper interest is essential. Conflicts of interest are important to analyze and address when assessing ethics.

We all have different perspectives on ethics and moral values. Actions that are acceptable for one person or one family may not be acceptable for another. We need to recognize those differences, which are sometimes entirely reasonable (sometimes not).

I put all of this into the context of rules: and self, family, groups, government, and law.

For ethics in government, consider the duties, and to whom they are owed

A simple and effective principle for ethics and ethical behavior in government is considering to whom the duty is owed, and what the considerations should be.

In government, that duty is to the public, to the constituents, to the country, state, city, or locality. The duty is never to the individual person serving in government. That means they should not be acting in self interest, such as to enrich themselves financially, to build personal power, or to stay in power. Obviously this also means they should not be acting in the interests of their family or friends. Their actions should be in the public interest.

Ethics is about not just the actions, the result, or the final decision, but also the process and thought to get there.

Government officials are elected or appointed to serve in the government role to serve the people. If that individual uses their position, their knowledge, their resources, to benefit themselves personally, then they are misusing their government position. They are serving the wrong interest (their own).

Government has created rules for ethical behavior of government employees. Rules that go beyond criminal laws that prohibit bribery or unlawful gratuities.

The problem is when rules, and principles of ethics and conflicts of interest, are disregarded, or not properly addressed.

Ethical, criminal, and civil rules in context

My modified Venn diagram helps put criminal laws, civil laws, and ethics into general context.

Criminal laws prohibit the most extreme types of bad conduct, and sets a low bar for acceptable conduct. A government official who accepts a bribe or gratuity is violating a criminal law and being unethical.

Civil laws prohibit many actions already disallowed by criminal law plus many more. It is a higher bar for acceptable conduct compared to criminal law, meaning people may do things which don't constitute a crime or are not worthy of criminal prosecution, but they could still be found civilly liable for it. It is often the case that ethical conduct means not violating civil laws.

Finally, ethics is an even higher standard of conduct encompassing all of the above plus more. Someone might do something unethical which nevertheless does not violate any the other types of laws. This means that just because "no laws were violated" does not mean the conduct was ethical.

There are a number of grey areas on how these overlap or differ, and the diagram is conceptual (not to scale).

Ethics is usually hard

Good ethics can be a harder path to take because it is often against self-interest. It might mean losing a financial opportunity or acknowledging facts that can hurt popularity or chances of election.

There is no shortage of people who are capable of acting in their own self-interest, because that is the easy route.

Ethics is about considering who is owed the duty, and usually that is someone other than one's self. And when one considers that duty, and what is proper, sometimes the final decision and action along the moral course is usually against self-interest.

We can also make the argument that taking the ethical and moral course is ultimately in one's own self-interest, but that is a longer term path to take. We can hope that voters and others will recognize the value of these traits and reward them with votes and donations to the campaign. But clearly many people act in their own immediate self interest, to the detriment of whoever was owed the duty.

The role of the voter in government ethics

We elect, appoint, and hire government officials so that they can serve citizens and the country, state, city, or other governmental unit, not so that they can serve themselves and help themselves. Their duty is to serve the interests of others, not their self interest, nor the interests of friends, family, and business partners.

So hopefully voters select the candidate with the highest degree of ethics.

For pessimists, they can simply look for the least degree of untrustworthiness and corruption. Candidates are never exactly equal, there is always one choice that is better (or worse) than the other.

Remember that an unethical, untrustworthy person will lie to suit their own personal interests. They will feel no duty towards truth nor to those who voted for them.

Sometimes unethical people get elected and then reelected, and for those circumstances we can only look to the voter, who has rewarded unethical or corrupt conduct.

A suggested citizen voter criteria for ethics

Government needs people who are (1) ethical and honest, (2) competent, (3) experienced, and (4) decent. Voters could consider these areas first and foremost.

Then, they can move on to other issues. Those other issues might be (5) what they "say" they will do in the future on issue A, (6) what they did in the past on issue B, and (7) their party.

The point is, if you can't trust them in the first place to be truthful or act in the interests of their constituents, then other factors (such as items 5-7) hold less weight, maybe no weight. They cannot be trusted, will be inclined to say whatever is convenient (including lies) to protect their own personal interests, to get elected, to stay in power.

Remember that our system of government and law depends on voting, elections, campaigning, and even the party system too (as an unfortunate practical matter).

The key is that citizen voters decide who should be running our governments. That is their duty and responsibility in a nation ruled by law, process, and facts. Maybe we can agree that items 1-4 are the most important criteria to start with.

My free online course for ethics in government

I built an online course on ethics in government which is free on the Udemy platform.

This course is introductory and to keep it free, it had to have less than two hours of lecture.

How many people can I reach who can learn about the importance of ethics for our government officials? Help me reach more people, including by taking the course and giving it a five-star review.

Conclusion

Ethics in government is essential. Otherwise we have people in government serving themselves, not the people they were elected and hired to serve. Self-serving government officials act in their own interests, and that is bad for the country.

In a democracy where voters elect important government officials, ethics should be the top criteria.

Ethics in government can be a highly subjective area, but reasonable people can agree on some reasonable principles.

This short article is not tailored to your circumstances, includes my opinion, and is not legal or consulting advice.

Additional reading and learning

This article is hosted at https://johnbandler.com/ethics-in-government, copyright John Bandler, all rights reserved.

Originally posted 7/8/2025, updated 10/04/2025.