题目：
"To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards."
一个公仆如果想成为一位杰出的领导者就必须保持最高的伦理和道德标准。
正文：
I aGREe with the statement above with my own reservations. In the modern society with many allurements filled in, undoubtedly, it is essential for a public official to be an effective leader to always keep in his mind a high ethical and moral standard, yet, not necessarily the highest.
In the first place, as an effective leader, a public official must take into consideration the interests of all the people in his group he leads and delegates, and often he has to give up his individual interests to the interests of the whole group. It is the high ethical and moral standard keeping in an effective leader's mind that guarantees he always chooses to do the right thing for the whole group rather than himself when the interests of the collectivity and of himself conflict. The unethical or immoral characters just as selfishness, avarice, dishonesty, and lechery etc., are fatal for a public official to be an effective leader, because the one with these weaknesses in his character is easy to be influenced by allurements as money, power, beauty, and so forth. Simply put, you are the Chief Executive of a state. And if you are selfish, GREedy, or libidinous, what would you do when facing one 100 million dollars' check or a beauty as Marilyn Monroe sent by a corporation and been told you are free of public supervision? Still reject the project of the corporation which could be harm to the people living in the state or help the corporation carry out this project with your special power? It will be hard to explain why a selfish and GREedy official chooses the former. So, we cannot expect a public official with ethic or moral flaws could be an effective leader.
The second, in a democratic country like United States, the officials are always elected and supervised by all the people they lead. A public official must maintain a high ethical and moral standard to make the public believe that he is just the right one to lead them, or he will fall down from where he rose up. The Watergate Case is a good example here. When President Richard Nixon's dishonesty and improper operations in the reelection was revealed to the public, people in this nation doubted if Nixon was still reliable and had the qualification to be the President. At last, Nixon was impeached and became the first one in American history to resign during his term of President. And another example is President Bill Clinton's sexual scandal. Though it did not lead to a resignation, President Clinton's prestige was seriously influenced. Either Nixon or Clinton is not an effective leader for their unethical or immortal characters.
However, maintaining a highest ethical and moral standard is not practical for an effective leader. For the first thing, it is hard or seems impossible to reach the highest ethical and moral standard. We have to admit that every human being has his own weakness and shortness in his characters, then, in fact, the highest ethical and moral standard should only be kept in Bible as an ideal guidance for human beings. Secondarily, sometimes the highest ethical and moral standard conflicts with the interests of most people. For example, it is brutal to kill animals for their meat in terms of some highest ethical and moral standards, then should our officials bring out an act prohibiting us from having meat? I think it is really a bad news for human beings because most of us are flesh eaters, and it is fallacious for an official to do this.
In sum, in our modern society, keeping a high ethical and mortal standard in mind is the insurance for a public official to always do the right thing for all the people he leads and win their trust, which will finally lead him to an effective leader. And still we have to remember that what we need is an effective leader, not a severe moralist.
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