Decalogue for guidance of politicians

Don Luigi Sturzo was an Italian priest who founded Il Partito Popolare. In November 1948 the daily newspaper Popolo e Libertàprinted his decalogue of the good politician.

In this letter I am reproducing the said decalogue:

1. The first rule of political action is to be sincere and honest. Promise little and do what you have promised.

2. If you love money too much, don’t go into politics.

3. Refuse any proposal that tends towards flouting the law to gain a presumed political advantage.

4. Do not surround yourself with people who praise you. Praise harms the soul, excites vanity and alters the vision of reality.

5. Do not think that you are indispensable because from that moment you start making many mistakes.

6. It is easier to start with no and arrive at yes than from yes you go back to no. Often the no is more useful than the yes.

7. The patience of a politician must imitate the patience that God has with human beings. Never despair of anyone.

8. If possible turn your collaborators in government into friends but never into favourites.

9. Do not belittle the advice of those women who interest themselves in politics. They see things from a concrete point of view, which men can easily overlook.

10. Every evening make your examination of conscience. It is a good habit also for a politician.

Don Sturzo comments on his own decalogue very wisely:

“Some think that politics is an art that one can learn without preparation, that one can exercise without competence, that one can achieve with malice.

“It is also a diffused opinion that common morality does not apply to politics, and one often mentions two kinds of morality: one of private relationships and the other (which is neither morals nor morable) of public life. My long and painful experience, on the other hand, makes me look at politics as saturated with ethics, inspired by love of neighbour, ennobled by the purpose of the common good”.

Don Sturzo could easily have written all this in the year 2011.