COMMENTARY | Do Americans expect personal morals from those that they put into political office? I would have to answer that with a resounding NO. It would seem that people are happier with politicians who massage the economy and enable a perceived increase in personal value. The general belief of a majority of our citizens would seem to be centered around their own personal “six-inch circle.” Beliefs along these lines would go something like “As long as a Presidential candidate (or President or Congressman, etc) is not enjoying my wife he (or she) can participate in anything, anywhere.”
Of course, the potential for these immoral desires to invade your own life is quite small but still there. Would you support the idea of your spouse volunteering with the campaign office of a candidate who has admitted to various affairs? Do you trust your spouse to be able to resist any temptations that may be presented by working in close proximity to this candidate? It would be expected that most would answer a quick NO to that.
Do we expect the Republican Party, which stands on a family values platform, be exempt from such issues? If you are familiar with human nature you should not have such high expectations. As politicians, these candidates can be classified as Republican or Democrat, but they still yield to human tendencies regardless of their party affiliation. The arena of politics, along with the perceived power of holding a political office, can easily lead a person into the “tangled web of deceit” if such carnal desires are allowed to surface. Similar to rock band groupies, some people are so enthralled with those who have been given political power that they will do anything to be near those in power. Because so many in today’s society are only interested in what they, themselves, can get out of life it does not matter who is destroyed along the way. Marriages, reputations, morality; none of this matters to the “me”-centered person of this world.
With the above arguments presented, it seems that a political candidate who had admitted to many infidelities in life as a business person would suffer from a staffing problem. Even though it seems that Americans don’t seem to care what a politician does in his “private life,” most people should be wary of getting involved with such an individual because of the possibility of an intrusion into their own personal comfort zone.