A CENTURY ago the "Old" Bermuda was at its zenith. It was a time when the blood ties and social freemasonry of a relative handful of families resulted in the island's public affairs being conducted as extensions of private business matters. As a result, Hamilton's Latin motto began to be freely translated as: "Get What You Can". And it proved to be an entirely more precise reading than the literal translation, "Hamilton Has Gathered The Scattered."

Bermuda was largely self-governing and self-regulating (in a very loose manner of speaking) throughout most of its history.

It really wasn't until the immediate post-World War One era that then modern financial mechanisms were put into place to safeguard the public purse. It would take decades longer to reform a political infrastructure that was the democratic equivalent of having a wolfpack serve as sheepdogs for a large herd: a herd in a near-permanent state of low-level panic and which felt completely powerless to control its own destiny.

The Nazi radio propagandists who attempted to sow civil unrest here during the Second World War with broadcasts that contained arch references to the island's quasi-feudalistic political arrangements and the "40 Thieves" who presided over them happened upon a term that would reverberate around the island for decades.

In fact, it is often dusted off and put back into circulation as an all-purpose defence against abuses of power that occur in the "New" Bermuda.

The sins of the fathers, it seems, are not just visited upon the sons unto the nth generation in Bermuda. They are employed to rationalise and deny all ethical lapses and improprieties involving abuses of the public trust. The piratical, self-dealing ways of our ancestors are now regarded in some quarters as being a sanctified Bermuda tradition, up there with codfish breakfasts and kite-flying on Good Friday.

There have been any number of big-ticket scandals in recent years that demonstrate some in Bermuda's Government have less interest in acting with unwavering integrity, complete impartiality and absolute dedication to the public interest than they do in using public office to pursue private interests.

Most conspicuously, a series of improprieties involving the administration of the Bermuda Housing Corporation and the construction of a new senior secondary school were uncovered - and then hastily reburied by Government House.

Clearly London still subscribes to the old policy of masterful inactivity when it comes to such local scandals rather any activity which might risk drawing the Foreign & Commonwealth Office into an bloodless but embarrassing 21st century colonial war with one of its handful of remaining territories - particularly one frequently held up by our British constitutional guarantors as representing the gold standard in terms of both local self-governance and unimpeachable off-shore regulatory regimes.

Though there was a failure of will on the part of the UK authorities to make public the full extent of the chicanery involved, nevertheless, promises were made by both Government House and the Bermuda Government to ensure there would be no repetitions of the venality that took place.

Specifically, there were pledges to overhaul the now archaic corruption legislation introduced decades ago to curb the more mercenary and shamelessly unbridled excesses of the "Old Bermuda's" oligarchs.

Less, of course, has been seen of these proposed new regulatory guidelines since then than has been seen of Osama bin Laden.

Those who learn about political theory in civics lessons - those who learn about checks and balances and divisions of power that should make chronic abuse of public office improbable if not entirely impossible - are often shocked by how politics is practised outside of the classroom.

But the reality is that corruption is an occasional occupational hazard of politics. As someone once said, in order to retain any respect for the machinery of government and sausages, it's imperative not to delve too deeply into what goes into either.

No one would seriously suggest there are widespread and entrenched departures from the very highest standards of ethical and moral conduct among either elected officials or Bermuda's civil servants.

But the relative handful of public servants who do engage in unethical behaviour have done more than just ensure a few bureaucratic corners get cut and a few taxpayers' dollars end up in the wrong people's pockets.

They have eroded public confidence in the whole system of governance in Bermuda.

And public confidence in the individuals and institutions charged with conducting the public business is one of the indispenaible buttresses of democracy and accountability.

If it ever materialises, even new legislation specificially tailored to the rapidly changing conditions in our Government and society is not going to be sufficient to ensure the highest standards of conduct are routinely observed.

High ethical standards can, of course, only be maintained when all of Bermuda's leaders demonstrate a personal committment to integrity in high office.

Introducing new laws or statutes or regulations cannot legislate morality in the public service if some public servants are constantly examining them for loopholes.

Bermuda needs leaders who can provide personal examples of dedication to the basic principles of accountability and transparency, whose own conduct and integrity is quite above reproach.

Bermuda needs leaders who will consistently screen out those undesireables who view public office as a doorway to the acquisition of personal power and wealth, who set the moral tone for governance in this island through their actions and not just occasional flourishes of high-minded but hollow rhetoric.

Ultimately Bermuda needs leaders who can perhaps substitute a unifying, Bermudianised version of "Yes, We Can" for the ugly and discredited philosophy of "Get What You Can". - Tim Hodgson