Character matters. I mean personal character, that intangible structure of moral and ethical standards that were pushed into us by our parents, our teachers or mentors, and our religion. Two hundred years ago, even a hundred years ago character was a word often spoken of in American culture. A person had a strong character or not, a good character or not. A person’s character was the signpost of their being. With the advent of radio then television, not to speak of today’s social media, the idea of character has been eroded by the idea of personality. Gold replaced by brass.

Thousands of years ago the Greeks and Romans knew that character mattered. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln knew that character mattered. In modern times, leaders like Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Martin King, and Colin Powell have emphasized that character matters and, for many of us, our parents, schooling, and religion have pressed on us the importance of the moral and ethical standards that mark a character. Having those standards does not mean they are always met; most humans are flawed, but accepting the standards and at least trying to meet them has been a social force allowing us to have stable lives and to respond to ethical challenges. Unfortunately, in the important world of politics we have come to a place where, to millions among us, the idea of character seems not to matter. That is a recent change. There was a time when, regardless of political beliefs, most of us would not have voted for a person of low character because we realized that person’s self-serving traits could turn against us. A misogynistic liar, a draft- and tax-dodging self-promoter, or a multiple adulterer, let alone someone who was all of those, would have been shunned from national politics.

It would have been recognized that putting such a person in a position of governmental power could lead to all sorts of abuses. Not so long ago our nation ignored that teaching and elected a president most people would not trust to be their banker.

We ignored his ignorance of government, his self-indulgences, and poor personal choices for the sake of some of his political policies. For that short-sightedness, we reaped the whirlwind, which should have taught us that while our political leaders may not be of solid gold, we should at least avoid those who are only brass.

Now comes Hershel Walker, another self-promoter, multiple adulterer, and reported liar who has made himself a candidate for senator from Georgia.His character flaws have been put in the public spotlight, but that has not stayed the support of some of the leaders of his political party. Why? Because he voices their political beliefs. To those leaders, their grasp for power matters more than anything else. To them, Mr. Walker’s character doesn’t matter; only their political agenda matters. They want you to believe that, too. Sadly, that narrow, agenda-above-everything opinion is shared by some of the premier tyrants of the past century, not excluding Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, and Ho Chi Minh.

The truth is that character is at the very heart of democratic politics.

Citizens of democracies depend on the character of their leaders, whatever their politics, to serve them first, both in their day-to-day decision-making and in their reaction to national stresses and emergencies.

If we cannot have heroes in those roles, we should at least avoid villains. For the latter to be imposed is a misfortune, for them to be elected is a disgrace.

Terry Turner, a resident of Colquitt County, is professor emeritus of urology at the University of Virginia as well as author of books based on his experiences as an infantry officer in Vietnam.