Posted by
Playful Walrus on Wednesday, July 01, 2009 1:25:51 PM
Politics attracts the egotistical, the arrogant, narcissists, opportunists, and compromisers. Politicians often think they are better than everyone else, and getting elected confirms that thought in their mind. They think they are special, and that God or fate or luck or whatever is smiling on them.
This is one big reasons the founders of our union adopted a Constitution that separates powers, has checks and balances, and limits government. This system was designed to prevent any one power-hungry person with an entitlement mentality from gaining too much influence over our union.
Now, not all politicians are like that, but many are, or allow themselves to become that way.
When it comes to male politicians, add in the fact that there are women who are attracted by power, which politicians do have, and fame and money, which politicians can find more easily than the average Joe. Many of these types of women are willing to "trade" sex for access to these men, or to allow themselves to think they are falling in love with a man they see as special.
What you have here is a recipe for infidelity on the part of politicians. But what is the infidelity rate in the general population compared to elected officials? I suspect either a lot of elected officials aren't getting caught or their infidelity rate may actually be less than the general population - if only because of a lack of privacy.
Some people say infidelity by elected officials doesn't matter. Many of these people cite European politicians who are "open" about their infidelity, and public acceptance of it. Other people say it only matters if that politician has previously championed "traditional values".
I don't care how they do it in Europe. America was started by people who weren't happy with Europe, and over the years, we filled up with people who weren't happy with how things were in Europe or people from places once controlled by Europe who aren't happy with the way things are in those places. We are NOT Europe. And violation of personal vows by an elected official in a public institution (marriage) should matter, because character matters.
Sure, if I have the choice between a Governor who consistently supports limited government and one who consistently pushes for increased statism and they are both cads, I'm going to choose the former. But we're not limited to those options. Surely we can find people of character and get them elected.
Previously: Breaking Marital Vows