26 October
Dear Christian Friis Bach,
I write to you with great sincerity and in a spirit of philosophical debate. I hope you take no offence at my line of inquiry. When first I developed a political interest during your tenure as Denmark’s Minister for Development, you personified the good in politics by wanting to make the world a better place. This was not only based on your approach to development policy, but rather the earnestness with which you carried out your role. Recently, I have found myself thinking about the way you resigned. You unintentionally approved a set of travel rules that financed former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s first-class tickets from the development budget while he acted as chairman of the Global Green Growth Institute. Løkke Rasmussen was heavily criticised for the accrued costs and thus it was a shock when it turned out that your government had decided the rules. Despite it being an involuntary mistake, you nonetheless resigned as a consequence of, in your own words, “… having provided incorrect information… (to the Danish Parliament)” about the matter. And because the ultimate responsibility always lies with the minister. Several commentators found your resignation unnecessary, a minor error on the scale of political deceit where an apology would have sufficed. The decision to resign was a lonely but loud statement of integrity in what is otherwise known as a bleak moral landscape. To this day I think of it as an act similar to how Sophocles defined goodness: “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.” You may forgive me for what sounds like excessive praise of your character. However, my acknowledgement of your decision to step down is followed by a question I find to be at the centre of modern politics: By striving for high ethical standards in public life, and thus not always meeting them, do we not risk leaving our politics in the hands of those who have no scruples about remaining in power? If all those who deem themselves good and righteous resign from politics at the first sign of moral compromise is the system not doomed to fail? This question of integrity is of course not an easy one and is at the heart of age old discussions about the corrosive nature of power. From an emotional point of departure, it strikes me that the only way to compete on equal terms with those interested in power for power's sake is not to give up one’s seat to protect the integrity of the office. Rather, the true test of integrity is the extent to which the righteous person is betraying their own moral beliefs. Of course, the democratic implications of this line of thought are concerning. It makes the accountability of politicians an exercise in self-awareness. On the other hand, an argument can be made that many of the norms governing the state of democracy, at least in Denmark, are made up by precedent. By paving the way for how our democracy ought to work, we force the political system to follow suit. Indeed, many would agree with me that the only way to restore public trust in government is to show that actions and mistakes have consequences beyond the appeasing effect of words. I like to think that this is also the answer to the threats currently levelled at liberal democracies around the world; politicians pursuing transparency, honesty, and reflection publicly in a way that cannot be undermined by anything other than political differences. However, the question remains whether the bar for accepting the consequences of mistakes is set so high that it is deemed impossible by other politicians to follow. In that case a resignation may be a statement of integrity, but a lonely one at that. Considering recent events in the UK, I am sure the last word has not been said about this ever-relevant debate. If you have the time, I would be grateful to hear your thoughts on integrity in politics – and whether you view your decision differently today compared to back then.
Kind regards
Anton Holten Nielsen
Anton Holten Nielsen