“Would you have anal sex for $102 million?”

This was the question posed by Emily Sellers, a columnist for Dartmouth University’s student newspaper, The Dartmouth, to Texas Governor Rick Perry. The question was meant as an attack on Perry’s views of same-sex relations was asked in a provocative and bold manner but raised a few issues that people rarely look at.

Americans criticize politicians for their actions on a daily basis and question politicians’ unethical “moral obligations.” But rarely do we stop and think about how much money it would take to change our moral standards.

Perry, according to Sellers, has a price tag of $102 million, the amount of money that has been donated to him during his gubernatorial election campaigns. So, the question I want to pose to people who criticize is; how much do your morals and beliefs cost?

If asked to people on the street there would most likely be a resounding cry of, “I would never sell my values and beliefs,” but inside I think we all have our number.

Money has always played a role in people’s professional and personal lives. From your average entrepreneur who will likely say anything to raise a price and get a tax break to Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus of Nazareth for thirty silver pieces men and women have been lying and cheating their way to monetary gain for millennia.

Now we enter the realm of honesty. If there are people backing a man such as Perry, then why can’t he tell voters that it is their interests he is guarding? Because there is the illusion that he fights for whatever he finds “morally upstanding,” the constitution, the illegalization of homosexuality and really big oil companies.

In the end we don’t know what Perry’s morals and standards are. All we know is whom he represents based on where his money came from and what his speechwriter types on the Teleprompters he reads from. Just like the average American would lie to keep a job, Perry will lie to keep his job and eventually try for a promotion to the White House. So, whether or not we agree with what these politicians say and do, we are still very much like them.

So, what is your price? My price is most likely a couple million dollars, or enough to get me all of the things I want in life. But fortunately for me and the people who know me, I will never have to make the decision between what I believe and what other people want me to say I believe. That is a burden we rest on the shoulders of our politicians, like Atlases lifting worlds of cash and constitutions.

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