This latest revelation of bad behavior by a member of Congress should really come as no surprise. He is just the latest of a long line of elected officials who think they can get away with anything. He won’t be the last.
To my mind, there are two reasons for this. The first, is that there is a truism that states: People have contempt for those upon whom they are dependent. In other words, congressmen have contempt for their constituents, welfare recipients have contempt for the government, labor has contempt for management and vice versa, etc. This is sad, but when we have a system that fosters the few to have so much and so many people to have so little, this is what we get.
The other reason for bad behavior among government officials is the way they’re elected. We don’t recruit those with the highest values or the strongest character. We elect those with the loudest party line who look the part and have the most money to spend to sway voters with whatever misleading information they and their supporters can fabricate and/or spin. Anthony Weiner and his kind may be good at their jobs, but if we expect leadership from these people, we are looking in the wrong direction. The same goes for athletes. Why are we dismayed when they fail to live up to whatever elevated standards we think they ought to abide by? They’re athletes. They weren’t elected to higher office. Their ability is no reflection on their character.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe we have real leaders with true character currently in office. But those individuals do not comprise the majority in this broken system. Were we to recruit the best and the brightest with the highest possible standards, people who will provide real role models for this nation’s (and the world’s) children, then we need to change the system.
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