Ethics Memo to Governor Romney

©Wendell Griffen, 2012

            I have a suggestion to whoever is advising Governor Mitt Romney's presidential campaign these days.  Get an ethicist or pastoral counselor on board now.

            In recent days, candidate Romney has stumbled badly in responding to confirmed reports that he was ringleader in assaulting a schoolmate at the prestigious Cranbrook School he attended for high school. According to his schoolmates who also participated in the assault on a male student who dyed his hair a different color, Romney led the attack and wielded the scissors. 

            Romney doesn't deny that the incident happened but says he doesn't recall it.  He admits to pranks during his youth.  If he offended anyone by them he's sorry.  He's a wiser person now.

            Here's my assessment of Romney's response and its relationship to the wider question of his presidential candidacy.

            "I don't recall whether I led a physical assault on a vulnerable person" isn't credible.  This wasn't a pre-school misunderstanding. Romney was on the threshold of adulthood.  The conduct was intentional, violent, and abusive.  Romney's claim about not remembering he led a calculated assault on another person in his school community when he was practically grown doesn't pass the credibility test. 

            There's no "if" about whether the conduct happened or whether it was offensive.  Romney's personal response to questions from journalists about the incident is the kind of doublespeak the public has learned to expect from public figures trying to look contrite without genuine contrition.  The assault happened.  Romney's role in it has been confirmed by several other participants.  Instead of admitting what he did, apologizing for it, and showing he learned from his mistake Romney questions whether what he did may have offended someone.  That response is telling evidence of his lack of compassion at the very least.

            What happened then is relevant to the rest of Romney's career and his presidential candidacy.  Mitt Romney is a wealthy white man who has enjoyed social and other privileges of whiteness, maleness, wealth, and access to power.  The assault that Romney tries to trivialize by calling it a "prank" casts an early moral light on his use of power.

            The attack on his schoolmate shows that Romney was willing to wield his power against someone in his community who was vulnerable.  His leadership skills and influence were not employed to protect and defend his vulnerable schoolmate, but to abuse and victimize that person. 

            Because Romney claims to not remember the incident it could not have been a "teachable moment" in his moral formation.  His career in business and government has not been marked by actions on behalf of people who are vulnerable, less powerful, or otherwise unprivileged. 

            Ethically speaking, the high school assault can and should be placed in context with Romney's glib comment several months ago about not being concerned about the poor ("I'm not concerned about the very poor.")  It should be analyzed alongside his opposition to public policy aimed at making access to quality healthcare available to all persons in our society without regard to wealth, privilege, nationality, and other aspects of privilege.  

            How Mitt Romney mistreated a schoolmate in high school is very relevant when we ponder how his ideas on public policy will affect people who are poor, sick, weak, unpopular, and otherwise vulnerable.  As a privileged young man, Mitt Romney saw a vulnerable schoolmate and picked on him.  As a privileged adult, some of his public policies and business practices appear insensitive or oppressive toward vulnerable people.

            In the final analysis, Romney's conduct in high school, his career since then, and his presidential candidacy challenge us to decide if justice includes concern for people who are vulnerable or only those who are privileged and powerful.  Candidate Romney wants to become President Romney.  If a popular and privileged student would misuse his popularity and social advantage to prey upon a weak schoolmate, what would he do to protect and assist vulnerable people in our society if he becomes president?  What would he do as leader of a powerful and privileged nation to alleviate suffering, poverty, and injustice in the world?

            According to what Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew, when a young Mitt Romney saw and refused to protect and assist a vulnerable schoolmate and when Mitt Romney refused to protect and assist vulnerable workers and others in his business and public life, he mistreated God.  Judging from his response to questions about the Cranbrook incident, Romney and his advisors could benefit from pastoral counseling.