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Politicians as paragons of virtue: liberalism and ethical exemplification in public life

It is often claimed that liberals today advocate a politics which, as far as possible, eschews support for any particular ethical ideals of character. Among the considerations that may be adduced in support of this commitment is an ostensibly powerful resistance to any notion that politicians have a special responsibility to set ethical standards for those they represent. This article argues, however, that the idea of politicians as ‘ethical exemplars’ can be presented in a form to which liberals could in fact be consistently sympathetic. Minor though the idea's role in a liberal conception of politics may be, the argument in support of it highlights a little-noticed way in which the ethical-impartialist reading of ‘liberalism’ is impoverished.