Do you remember the term "moral terpitude?" It is a legal term that was well known by the American generations before now, and a good definition from the state of Pennsylvania legal code (237.9) is:

(1) That element of personal misconduct in the private and social duties which a person owes to his fellow human beings or to society in general, which characterizes the act done as an act of baseness, vileness or depravity, and contrary to the accepted and customary rule of right and duty between two human beings.

(2) Conduct done knowingly contrary to justice, honesty or good morals.

(3) Intentional, knowing or reckless conduct causing bodily injury to another or intentional, knowing or reckless conduct which, by physical menace, puts another in fear of imminent serious bodily injury.

Moral terpitude was far reaching. If one was found to be guilty of moral terpritude, they could not be a teacher, a witness in a legal case, would lose any professional licenses (law, medical, etc) and could not run for office.

That's right. They could not run for office. I think all that changed when our 42nd sitting president lied to the American people, and to the Federal Grand Jury yet remained in the highest office in the land (although the state of Arkansas revoked his legal license for FIVE YEARS). Now it appears that nearly any sitting politician can commit almost any crime and "it's none of our business" and "everyone makes mistakes." These last years, we have seen:

• Rep Charles Rangel-Chmn of Ways & Means Committee: currently charged with accepting corporate $ for travel, using official congressional letterhead to solicit money for a college center named after him, AND failing to accurately complete his financial disclosure--ommitting hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Rep John Murtha-Chmn of Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee: currently charged with 5 ethics violations including ties to the PMA lobbying group under federal investigation, ties to Kuchera Industries which is a defense contractor under federal investigation, his ties to defense execs convicted of skimming off federal contracts, actions he has taken to favor his brother's lobbying clients and his chief of staff's threats to a political opponent.
• Former Rep Tom DeLay: travel funded by lobbyists, employment of family members and ties to Jack Abramoff.
• Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel: lived rent-free for years with Rep De Lauro and never disclosed the gift as required when he was a congressman, De Lauro's husband is a Democratic pollster, hired by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for over $500,000 and Emmanuel chaired that committee, and he served on Freddie Mac's Board of Directors during the time that Freddie Mac lied to the government back lender which led to our economic meltdown.
• Rod Blagojevich, former Governor and State Rep of Illinois: charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery.

None of these politicians was ripped from office as they should have been. Instead, they continue(d) to either create the laws and consequences that we, the people, to are expected to keep...or they presided over the executive branch, We need to return to believing that our politicians should be as close to beyond reproach as possible. We need to seek, vote for and continue to support moral and principled leadership, and anything less than that should be decisively removed. Whatever your political persuasion, we can demand moral integrity from our leaders--this really is a bi-partisan issue.