The recent revelations concerning President’s Clinton’s affair with 20-something intern Monica Lewinsky gave Republicans the smoking gun they and Ken Starr have spent $40+ million to find. Problem is, the cigar wielding antics of the nation’s highest elected official may produce less smoke in the long run than the actual motives for trying to partisanly railroad an elected official from office. Before investigating the ethics behind the potential resignation of President Clinton, let’s look at the ethics behind those trying to remove him from office. Should we forget the Republicans have been trying to remove Clinton from office through revelations of scandal throughout his six years in office? Should we forget, morally speaking, the American people approve of Clinton’s work as president, a president they voted into office already knowing he was an adulterer? Should we not ask how many politicians in Washington would be guilty of similar crimes? Most importantly, can we forget that Ken Starr is a lawyer for the tobacco industry (the same industry Republicans support and a major influence in making Bob Dole look like the money-kissing Senator he was in the 1994 election)? This last fact makes it appear as if someone with more power, money and influence wants Clinton to resign-the tobacco industry and their supporters (Republicans, farmers, etc.). In a political arena dictated by special interest groups is there no ethical irony between Starr’s obsession with removing Clinton from office and his defense of the tobacco industry at the same time?
For all of these reasons and more, the resignation of Bill Clinton would represent not only a return to Victorian-era sexual mores but also a symbolic victory for big-money politics and a defeat for democracy and the voters who elected Clinton and ones still in favor of his ability to do his job well. Therefore, Clinton’s resignation would be unethical from a political st...