Government depends on trust, and there is precious little of it left in San Diego public life today. We look at the scandals plaguing our city. In quick succession, we have seen a mayor resign, two councilmembers convicted on federal charges resign, and a congressman announce he would not run for re-election.

We wonder, in dismay: Do the misdeeds of officials reflect stupidity, greed or cowardice? Did public officials not understand that some of their decisions were wrong and, in the light of day, probably illegal as well? Did greed blind these officials to truths that seem painfully obvious to impartial spectators? Or did some of these officials realize the folly of their policies but fear to tell the public unpalatable news about the city's financial future?

These are questions that are being answered in courts of law as well as the court of public opinion. However, the most important questions San Diegans ought to raise are about our future. Can we restore the public trust so necessary to a flourishing public and political life in San Diego? How can we transform our "Enron by the Sea" to a thriving democracy with intelligent, temperate, and courageous leadership?

It is easy to discern the qualities we need in our political leaders. They must be smart and well-informed, so that they grasp the often-complex issues that face our city. However, we need more than technocrats and neutral administrators: we need leaders with a particular kind of intelligence, an intelligence that sees policy implications and projects a vision of a better future. Leaders who lack this brand of intelligence will inevitably lead us down dead-end streets dictated by their own narrow prejudices.

Second, our political leaders must put the public interest ahead of private gain. When we see our representatives apparently manipulating the law for campaign benefits, or a congressman receiving inappropriate benefits from a defense contractor, we begin to wonder whether these are public servants or individuals who expect the public to serve them.

Third, our political leaders must have a personal and public sort of courage. They need to have the fortitude to resist weighty pressures from ruthless special interests as well as the lures of personal power. Leaders also need the strength of character to tell the public important and difficult truths that we do not want to hear. The city's financial problems were in plain view before the last election, but somehow we chose to ignore them.

The burden of leadership is not simply on the shoulders of our elected officials. It is also our responsibility and we must insist that our representatives speak the truth. We live in an increasingly Orwellian world in which politicians often seem simply to say whatever they want, and fewer and fewer people are upset by obvious lies. It is as though the public has lost the expectation of truthfulness, feeling that this is too high a standard to impose on public officials.

As citizens, we must have the same characteristics we expect of our leaders: we must be well-informed and thoughtful, we must care about the public interest as well as our personal benefits, and we must have the courage to speak of these things, both to our leaders and to one another. Otherwise, we will be unable to sustain a true community. All too often, we get the leaders we deserve, and the path to better leaders is often through better citizenship. When our leaders realize that we will not settle for less than real leadership, they may well provide genuine direction because it is the best path toward election.

The media must play a crucial role in the restoration of responsible leadership in San Diego. Not only does this mean avoiding fluff pieces about candidates' pets or favorite restaurants in San Diego and reporting the candidates' positions on the difficult issues before us, but the job does not stop there. The media also must provide critical analysis, clearly labeled as such, of those positions, carefully examining the details of those positions and the implications for our city of the candidates' proposals. Without these efforts on the part of candidates, citizens, and the media alike, we will simply continue to be a city in decline.

It is also important to realize that good people do bad things. Sometimes they do bad things because of character flaws – they become greedy, arrogant or simply afraid of doing anything that might jeopardize re-election – but not all the wrongdoing we see in public life is simply due to personal faults. Sometimes good people do bad things because of structural problems, situations that encourage and reward unethical behavior and punish those who play by the rules. If our public arena allows politicians to flourish by dishonesty and cheating, then we have failed our obligations to the good women and men who run for office on a platform of honesty and integrity, who tell us the truth and expect us to be mature enough to judge their candidacy wisely.

In many different areas of life, we should aspire to create environments in which people who work hard and play by the rules will rise to the top. All too often, this does not happen. In politics, the pressure for campaign money has become increasingly intense, forcing candidates both to spend inordinate amounts of time raising money and to encourage them to try to please the widest range of possible donors. We can imagine a political campaign based on ideas and principles and candidates wiling to risk losing in order to stay true to their most fundamental convictions. Such leaders would be willing to stand out in front of the American public, to stake out a position and to invite – and challenge – voters to follow. Now sophisticated polling allows candidates to determine where public opinion is heading and then stand in front of it, proclaiming leadership when in fact they are merely slavishly following the advice of the pollsters.

If San Diego is to recover politically and financially from the scandals that have become increasingly common, we must create a political climate in which good candidates rise to the top. The first step in this process is to be good citizens; we must demand of our candidates that they be genuine public servants, thoughtfully and courageously pursuing the public good, and we must welcome those who tell the truth, even when it is something we do not want to hear. We can only take that step effectively if we have a media equally committed to good politics and campaign structures that allow the best candidates to rise to the top. We, as citizens, must create a public space for our city to flourish.

San Diego Union-Tribune July 24, 2005