ABSTRACT
The moral obligation to preserve the integrity of America's architectonic legal structures of authority is frequently at the center of debates over leadership scandals. Together the United States (US) Constitution and the founding debates provide us with a necessary starting point for understanding the moral values that should guide public service leadership. Much of the history of human civilization is a history of warring ways of life where armed conflict becomes the only way of settling moral differences. That was why the American founders argued so hard for keeping government out of the business of regulating religion and private moral beliefs. Hygiene ethics keep us out of trouble, but it is never sufficient or helpful in performing the "doing good" side of public service ethics. The doing good side of ethics opens up a Pandora's box of concerns, similar to the kinds of issues that surround the appointment of US Supreme Court justices.
