"Those who treat politics and morality as though they were separate realms fail to understand either the one or the other."

Morality and politics- are they both really different? Politics can be defined as the science of governing a body of people and policy making. Morality on the other hand can be defined as a set of rules and principles of good conduct that guide our daily lives. Morality and politics are not necessarily exclusive of each other for one affects the other in the process of decision making. Morality provides us the framework of right conduct on an individual scale whereas morality affects the decision of politics on a macro scale.

Regardless whether a person is a religious or not, a person has a set or morals that govern his or her choices in life. We have been taught that greed is excessive, lying is bad, killing is evil… the list goes on. Morality instills within us a sense of conscience. This conscience is the factor that regulates and checks our behavior and our interaction with people. Of course, this is not to say that everybody has the same standards of morality. One religion’s teachings might differ from another. However, the universal understanding is that a good sense of morality provides us the framework on making the right and just choices in life.

An individual makes individual moral choices that his or her personal life. Politics can be seen as an extension of that except for the fact the choices made affect the lives of many others. Without a good sense of morality, politicians will make unjust choices that will adversely affect the society. Humans are essentially greedy and want benefits to be tipped to their favor. People make selfish choices. Politicians are only human and they make the same mistakes. A good sense of morality tempers the innate selfish instincts of a person. A politician with kindness and compassion for his fellow people will attempt make the best choices for his fellow constituents.

Basically, both politics and morality boils down to how we treat our fellow brothers and sisters. Politics are dependent on morality, for without good morals it is impossible to make correct and just choices that would benefit the society.