By now, everyone knows about Spitzer’s fall from grace.
I have found it very interesting that his government colleagues of both parties have not said anything about the the morality of the actions that precipitated his downfall. Instead, the all simply express their concern for Sptizer and his family.
Why are they being so “compassionate” you might wonder.
Duh. It’s because most of them have active extra-marital lives themselves. I found that out decades ago when I worked at my state’s legislature. Hell, everyone there knew what Nelson Rockefeller was involved in long before he died so memorably..
To be a politician, you have to have a strong ego. If you are a successful politician, you will have amassed considerable power that will bolster your ego even further. Ego combined with power generates a sense of entitlement to dispensation from the obligations of ordinary people. Throw in a good dose of testosterone, and, well, just check this out.
In my 30s and pretty enough, I wasn’t working at the legislature more than two months when one legislator, who chatted with me as we waited for an elevator, asked if I would like to accompany him to the Bahamas. Maybe he was kidding; maybe not. (No, I didn’t take him up on it.)
After a while, I became friends with a female on the staff of a still-prominent legislator, who, I found out, had kept a mistress for as long as he’d been there. Having worked for him for many years, she knew all the dirt about him and many other legislators as well. And there was a lot of it. And everyone seemed to obey an unwritten rule to keep it all secret.
And that’s what so puzzling about Spitzer’s actions.
On my way out to my birthday visit with my daughter and family, I was listening to WAMC, where well-known local defense attorney Terry Kindlon began a list of all the things Spitzer did that would guarantee that he would be caught. It’s as though he wanted to be caught.
One radio station listener called in to comment that perhaps Spitzer was going through a mid-life crisis. Whatever it was/is, it sure is a crisis. For such a smart man, he he made really dumb decisions.
Ego, power, entitlement, and politics can be the perfect recipe for hubris (iin it’s modern definition.)
I wonder if all of those other politicians who have their mistresses stashed away in nearby condos are feeling just a little more vulnerable. Yeah. Right.
Ego, power, entitlement, and politics — can’t beat ’em, until they beat you.