Why the Words 'Sex-Cheat' Have Undone Many a Political Career
Posted: Sunday, August 16, 2009
by Alisa Miller
http://alisa-miller.com
As I am writing this the John Edwards affair (pun unintended) is unfolding and yet one more promising political career is heading for the graveyard where political careers go to die once they have been undone by the collective judgment of public morality.
The debate raging right now covers much of what I will say. I think though the question I posed already defines the answer. No one expects men to be machines and everyone is prepared to show understanding where the need for a connection with another human being is concerned. What is at stake however when this happens is the trustworthiness of the politician's character and his fitness' to hold a position of public trust.
This is not as far-fetched as it may sound. We know that politics is not unlike acting. Politicians of any party, courting our vote, will stretch and bend the truth in order to get it and because they have not outright broken it' when they fail to deliver to our expectations they cannot really be accused of lying. We also know that politics is never black and white, and pragmatism requires so many different hues in terms of what is done and is not done that proper judgment cannot be delivered until years later when the results and the passage of time have produced a semblance of perspective.
None of this comes into it where sexual misconduct is concerned. Just like Britain's very public Profumo affair and former President Clinton's Monica Lewinsky case show what is judged in sexual misconduct is exactly what we would have liked to judge but couldn't in any politician's campaign: their moral character. Suddenly the mere suggestion that someone in high office is a sex-cheat' seems to bring out the worst in us and in them. In us because we bay for blood (and as much salacious detail as we can consume) and in them because it subsequently undermines their authority and, in many cases, their judgment.
In forgiving Italy, for example, Silvio Berlusconi is in trouble not only because he apparently had sex with escort girl Patrizia D'Addario, but because he went into such extraordinary lengths to hide it and still has refused to acknowledge it despite accumulating evidence against him. More recently in the US, Republican Mark Sanford made headlines with a number of peculiar statements including an alleged hiking trip' on Father's Day which placed him out of communication with his children, while, in truth, he was in Argentina spending time with his lover.
It is always tempting to think that what we ask of our politicians is to be better than ourselves when it comes to sexual temptation but that is not really it at all. While the role in public office should come with high standards what we really want of those who hold it (and the reason so many are undone by sexual misconduct) is transparent honesty. This means that those we trust to represent our interests really have to make a choice. If they decide to hold onto their job they have to decide on what is important to them. Trying to avail themselves of every opportunity and then using their power to hide behind it is really what becomes the key to their undoing.
This Article has been viewed 1,291 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Well written - those who lead us should make good choices in their lifestyle and show it in their character. Marijo
Good article and certainly it speaks of people in high places, expectations and morality. I find society today changed to the extent that what morality is right? Whose is correct? Realtivity the norm. Certaily the temptations are equal on both sides of the coin yet we expect examples of leadership to hold character as a key attribute. It seems not today as witnesed by so much fould play? Good job.
I remember the Gary Hart affair, and that seemed to have a lot of hubris and arrogance. Of course all of these political scandals/sex affairs have an element of hubris and arrogance. Somehow these things seem to go together. Big time ambition. Lots of daring, Giant sex and power drives. It sure is what it is, but it makes you curse.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.