The Import of Being Earnest

My quest to remain authentic and ethical in an increasingly transactional world.

I’m breaking my Wednesday/Sunday publication schedule because it’s important we speak about ethics and ethical behavior, and, that we do so sooner rather than later.

The first reason I bring this up is because we are witnessing a total lack of ethics, accountability, truthfulness, and transparency from our so-called leaders—unless you consider transparency to mean “openly demonstrating how shittily we are going to behave.”

I think “Signalgate” is evidence enough of this behavior.

The second reason is more personal.

The credo of the MAGA leaders is obfuscate, deny, distract, and never admit to wrongdoing. That is the only type of “ethic” to which they subscribe.

In the MAGA world, the ends always justify the means.

This belief is flat out wrong.

Ethics are important to me. As a social worker, my work is guided by a professional code of ethics, which includes six core values:

- Service

- Social Justice

- Dignity and Worth of the Person

- Importance of Human Relationships

- Integrity

- Competence (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2021).

I strive to ensure my work is continually grounded in these principles; I think this is reflected in my writing.

The MAGA agenda values none of these principles.

I’m here to do more than rant about MAGA’s lack of ethics, although I do want to draw attention to the issue to demonstrate how woefully inadequate, corrupt, and ill-advised their approach to leadership is.

My second reason for writing today is to demonstrate the opposite behavior.

In my excitement to launch the Giving Tzedakah charitable venture at Words over Swords and to build an online Community of Giving, I neglected to consider fully the implications of the giving model I proposed.

After discussing this project with a colleague, we realized there was a potential conflict of interest in the model I intended to pursue: I was proposing to collect and donate money to organizations with whom I could have a business relationship, or a potential business relationship, through my work at my university. I have no financial stake, governance role, or operational oversight role with these organizations, but I do seek to place student interns with them and make decisions as to the organizations with which my program will partner.

While I want to help build capacity in the community where I live, I also want to avoid any appearance of favoritism, unethical, or coercive behavior in my dealings with the non-profit agencies in my community. And as we’ve witnessed so often in politics, the perception of a conflict of interest can be more damning than any actual conflict.

At my colleague’s advice, I sought consultation from the Ethics Officer at my university. She and I had a fruitful conversation about the potential and perceived areas of overlap in my personal and professional ventures.

At first, I was frustrated. My initial impulse was to see this ethical complication as an impediment to my efforts. Still, I left the discussion with the Ethics Officer feeling uncomfortable about the model I had proposed for my Giving Tzedakah project.

I allowed my thoughts to simmer overnight, considering how I could alter my giving model to remove any potential or perceived conflict of interest that might arise.

What I arrived at is, I believe, a stronger, more communal, more egalitarian model of giving than what I had initially proposed.

So, here’s how the Giving Tzedakah project is going to change.

Rather than collecting contributions, in the form of paid subscriptions, to non-profit organizations in MY community, I’m going to collect contributions for non-profit organizations in YOUR communities, wherever they may be across the U.S.

In the first quarter of this project, beginning April 1, I will still collect contributions to be distributed to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey (CFBNJ). I believe this is a worthy cause, and, I do not have, nor have I ever had, a personal or professional relationship with CFBNJ. I have also never placed a student intern at CFBNJ, nor do I plan to do so for the coming academic year. As such, I still feel comfortable using CFBNJ as the first Featured Organization our efforts will initially support.

However, beginning with the Featured Organization for 3Q2025, the recipient of the contribution will be selected from the non-profit organizations YOU—my readers and the future contributors to this Community of Giving—recommend.

I imagine it will work something like this:

In a few weeks, I’ll ask readers to submit recommendations for worthwhile non-profit organizations to support from YOUR communities. I’d still like to limit these recommendations to local and regional non-profits, those organizations that rely on small donor support far more heavily than national non-profits. I believe it’s important for the success of this project that these contributions remain close to the communities in which we live.

There will be a short list of basic information required when someone submits a non-profit organization for consideration. Things like the organization’s name, location, website, mission, and why you’ve proposed our online community support this organization.

When it’s time to choose the next Featured Organization, I’ll create a poll allowing people to vote on which organization they would like our contribution to support. Majority vote wins. If the organization you proposed is not selected as the recipient for a particular quarter, it will be included in the options again the next quarter.

This does a few things: it removes me from the direct selection process of the organizations we consider supporting (I hopefully won’t have to suggest organizations beyond the initial one if this idea catches on), removes me from the direct selection process for where the contributions will be donated (I won’t have a vote), and creates transparency in how organizations that receive contributions are selected.

Moreover, it creates a more communal, reciprocal, egalitarian Community of Giving than my original proposition. Rather than giving exclusively to my community, at my discretion, we will be working collaboratively to build capacity in YOUR local communities through the power of our online community. It allows you to advocate for and impact the organizations YOU care about.

I like this model SO MUCH better than the model I originally envisioned. And, the only reason I stumbled upon this revised idea is because I paused to consider the ethical considerations of my initial plan.

I could have deemed such consideration untimely, unnecessary, inconvenient, or an impediment to my plans. It would have been easier to simply forge ahead, letting nothing deter my efforts, secure in the righteousness of my idea.

This seems to be the tactic of choice for the MAGA elite. Their culture of no compromise, no retreat, and no accountability leaves no room for the consideration of ethics.

MAGA believes this approach makes them strong and courageous. They think it makes them undefeatable warriors in their ideological crusade to destroy our government, along with the limits it imposes on them, in the name of unrestricted personal gain.

In truth, it makes them weak.

Failure to seek wise consultation, to be open to compromise, and to admit mistakes or missteps limits the quality of their ideas.

Failure to consider the human impact of their plans—or to brutally ignore that impact—limits the viability of their ideas.

Failure to interact with the world in a truthful manner limits the reliability of their ideas.

And failure to act in an ethical manner limits the acceptability of their ideas.

HOW we do things matters; often, more than WHY we do things.

Behaving ethically matters. Living ethically matters.

I hope the reconfiguration of the Giving Tzedakah project I have described demonstrates my commitment to living ethically and to creating a Community of Giving that is grounded in transparency, ethical behavior, and the legitimate intent to bring good into the world.

In keeping with the social work code of ethics, I strive to practice the values of service and social justice; to honor the dignity and worth of each person and the importance of human relationships; and to act with integrity and competence at all times.

If I fail to do so, it is my earnest hope that you’ll hold me accountable. It’s one way each of you can give back to me.

Resources:

National Association of Social Workers (NASW). (2021). Code of Ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English