Excerpts from FASPE Chair David Goldman’s Remarks at the 2024 Dinner
I feel like I have just returned to college. I spent two years studying and writing about what a professor of mine called “critical realignments,” then a new concept in American political history. Every 30 or 40 years, the American electorate changes course—with a focus on different issues and a new alignment of voters responding to those issues.
I am convinced that is what we are now living through. I urge that we at FASPE seize the opportunity presented by this new world.
We are at a crossroads of novel challenges and uncharted solutions.
The time for apocalyptic predictions is over. The time for extreme polarization has passed. Neither is productive.
What does that mean? It means that now more than ever is the time when those with influence must use their influence– intentionally, ethically, and effectively.
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I mean the professionals: they must define and shape this new landscape.
So, I come tonight with a challenge to us, to FASPE, to individual professionals.
Let me give a few examples of what I mean:
In the new order, there will be reduced regulations, fewer restraints coming from Washington.
- In the brave new world of AI and more: technologists, you are going to have to provide these ethical restraints.
- Doctors, the control of the delivery of medical treatments might not come from Washington or Atlanta. You must take control of patient-doctor relationships.
- In this new order, the United States might pull out from the Paris Accords. Washington will not dictate environmental policy. Business leaders, we must count on you to create truly ethical capitalism.
- Journalists, we simply must have objective, truthful information. Help!
- Lawyers, I know that you are paid to win. I know that the rules of ethics tell you that your loyalty is to your clients. Well, today, share that loyalty with the rule of law.
- Clergy/religious leaders: In this new order, we need empathy and humility more than ever. Please lead us.
I want to be clear. I am not talking pro-Trump or anti-Trump. We must move on from that obsession. I am talking about the real world.
I am reporting that FASPE will take a leadership role in energizing the influencers to do what they do best: influence. FASPE’s professionals, more than anyone, can define the future, a future that right now screams out for definition. That requires ethical foundations.
I am excited by this opportunity, by this challenge. And, I look forward to bringing everyone in this room into the process.
"Considering Professional Ethics" is a monthly essay shared in the FASPE e-newsletter.
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