Being a publicly elected official opens your life up for everyone to scrutinize. Things you did long ago or friends you have now can bring you down. Who is responsible for this?
The answer is easy. Campaigning has become big business! Consultants that win get big bucks and with the money comes a win at all cost attitude. Winning is good right? Yes! Winning is great! But....... Winning at what cost?
What are we, the electorate, costing ourselves? Great men are no longer encouraged to go into public office. Every President from the beginning could be tied to something bad or someone who was deemed un-American.
Kennedy, Eisenhower, LBJ just to name a few that have been relatively recent all had indiscretions. Eisenhower talked of divorcing his wife while in office.
Reagan divorced his first wife and led the "liberal" Screen Actors Guild. Would he be elected today? Not if a consultant decided to tear into him. Do you think that Karl Rove would have hesitated if all things were equal?
The problem has become this country and our need for paparazzi style news. We are driving the information age by wanting to know everything we possibly can disregarding the fact that we do not need this knowledge nor is it important to the decision process of what makes a great leader.
Did JFK's affairs make him any less of a great president? Did IKE's? What about Reagan and his divorce?
These men were great and led our country through periods that Gen X'ers and Millenial's could not fathom. The cuban missile crisis, for one, was an event that put this country on the edge of WWIII and yet an affair or reliance on pain meds did not affect the ability of JFK to lead and do so at a level that arguably has not been seen since.
I am not recusing any of them for their indiscretions. I do not think that I am the person to judge a man for his sins, however. Affairs, Alcoholism, Drug use, Murder, Being a Traitor all of these have been perpetrated by Presidents.
The exception? They were elected when the press reported the news and not he news they made. The news that as an electorate we now covet.
This cycle will not end! The American way is involved, Capitalism! In order for the government to be governed by greatness we, the electorate, will have learn to accept that Great men are not always Great. Most importantly, government must be taken back by the people after all government derives its power from the governed and it is time. Lobbyist do not represent you or I they represent who pays them. Consultant do not represent the best interest of you or I, they are paid to get people elected.
Who protects us?
