May 11, 2012Dear Sir,Moral Authority: The power to exercise influence over standards of behaviour based on a sense of right and wrong, delegated from one person to another. Now, consider that definition for a moment. A person with moral authority is a person who sets the standard for acceptable and unchangeable behaviour. A person who is in a position of moral authority has to be a person with a clear sense of what is right and what is wrong. Notice that moral authority is granted, not taken, not learned and not changeable — each of us must choose who we will allow to be the moral authority in our lives, based on our observation of their standards and values in comparison to our own. In spite of the erosion of moral standards in our society, the majority of our people hold on to and believe in the minimum standards of behaviour as acceptable values, and will use those standards to evaluate the moral authority of their leaders.Moral authority is delegated by individuals, not by entire nations. It is for us as individuals to evaluate the leadership of our country. One by one, every person is making their own decision, not as to the moral authority to lead the nation, but as to the moral authority to lead them. The acceptable values supersede the intelligence, the rhetoric, the personality and hit the very core of the individual and the one being measured. Now we are facing several challenges — employment, education, economy and again we must face them together. Where there is conflict, the wrong people easily come to the top, but where there is an atmosphere of family and community, the good leaders come to the top. We must light many candles, but produce one light.Conflict has two responses Fight or flight. Many choose flight as a way of avoiding conflict and change, hoping that the conflict will resolve itself, and that those with authority-given will handle it. Conflict functions along a spectrum from positive to negative. Healthy nations can have conflict with individuals that resolve issues to the betterment of the nation. Unhealthy conflict, however, focuses on individuals and personalities instead of message and movement. When an individual chooses to fight, the standards and values they hold are at stake. The individual expects those that have been given moral authority in their lives to stand with them to face the conflict. When the individual looks around to find themselves alone, this combined with a loss of hope effectively removes the moral authority of the previous leadership. Consequently, a change in leadership is necessary for the individual, especially if a renewed sense of hope to be achieved.“Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.” — Mahatma Ghandi. When leadership pursues a course of “by any means necessary” in order to retain their positional authority, this shifts and necessarily causes the loss of the very values and standards which gave them their moral authority to begin with. That loss then forces the individual to make what is often an emotionally difficult choice: either change their chosen influence and previous moral authority or find themselves being controlled and manipulated instead of led.C ANTHONY FRANCISOne Bermuda Alliance CandidateDevonshire North Central