Frankly, no matter how scandalous the media tries to make it sound, the fact of the matter is, politicians getting caught cheating is nothing new or even particularly shocking anymore. What I've found very interesting, however, in the case of Adam Giambrone, is how it has affected him. See, Mr. Giambrone, before his mayoral aspirations, was the head of the city's transit authority, essentially in charge of it, a position he has held for years now. During his tenure, several employees have been caught sleeping or worse on the job, rats have been seen running around in bakeries within subway stations, and fares have gone up while overall coverage has remained the same; and that's just in the past 6 months. Throughout his tenure, Mr. Giambrone has not shown a shred of competence in his current job, yet when he decided to run for mayor, nobody really questioned how he'd take on a much bigger responsibility when he was unable to fulfill the requirements of a smaller job. The odd thing is, all the mishaps that occurred under his watch to the city's transit did him less damage than news of one affair.
This leads to an interesting point; does the public value relationship sanctity more than job performance? I mean, what happened to Giambrone was essentially the equivalent of an office worker who never gets projects in on time and doesn't contribute to groups get considered for a promotion, then refused because the boss found out he was two-timing his girlfriend. The oddest thing is that it doesn't even seem to be the straw that broke the camel's back, but rather the log that single-handedly broke the camel's back, independent of every other weight on it.
But like I said earlier, politicians having affairs is nothing new, and every time, the same reaction occurs; the public sees this as an indication of the politician's dishonesty, and they're forced to quit, despite great hopes for their future prior to the scandal.
However, despite it all, single politicians are hard to find, and do not hold significant positions of power anywhere. This strikes me as very curious; after all, if all the politicians who did cheat on their partners had been honest and not gotten involved in relationships in the first place, then voters would've known where they stand, and there would've been no betrayal. So by this logic, single politicians should automatically be seen as more honest, right? Isn't it better to not commit rather than commit and then break that commitment?
The prevailing consensus on single politicians seems to be that the public cannot trust them because they haven't proven themselves capable of handling large responsibilities, which is an idea that holds true, seeing as how politicians are run out of office once their affairs are discovered. But then again, how many people do you know who are single because they're workaholics? How many people are so happy with what they do that they prefer not to be in relationships? Don't these people deserve a chance to hold power? After all, I can't believe that such personalities do not exist in the political realm, and it does seem unfair that they're being judged and deemed unfit for positions based on something that only tangentially relates to their job.
Which is the other point; why does a politician's relationship status matter? Shouldn't decisions be made on the basis of their ability to do the job at hand, rather than how they handle their home life? I mean, asking job applicants about their marital status is unethical (and if I recall correctly, illegal) precisely because it has no bearing on their ability to to the job they're being interviewed for. So why is it different for politicians (running with the analogy that the election process is like filling a vacancy, with the public being the hiring boss in this instance) ? Why is cheating on your spouse (in the case of Mr. Giambrone written above, he was simply in a relationship with his girlfriend; they hadn't even gotten engaged yet) the one inexcusable sin, but poor job performance is acceptable? Why are unfaithful politicians not tolerated but single politicians not given a chance?
The mind boggles. The three of you who accidentally stumbled across this blog have any thoughts?
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