Eliot Spitzer Should Resign
. . . oh, he did.
I was a little slow on posting on this, but as I have said about David Vitter and Larry Craig, public officials who fail to live up to their publicly proclaimed standards should not be trusted with their public office. All of these men failed to do so. Craig and Vitter seem to be surviving for the moment. Spitzer has resigned, which I regard as a good thing.
While I am an advocate of grace as a Christian, I also think that we should expect a high standard on the part of our leaders. If they cannot maintain that standard, they should be removed from such offices. There are people of integrity who can lead. We as voters should not be satisfied until we get them in office.
Hi Henry,
I find myself ambivalent about Spitzer’s resignation. Yes, he violated the trust of his wife and, to some extent, the people who voted for him, and both are significant problems. On the other hand, if people who’ve made large mistakes are to be excluded from office, then all we end up with are people who have yet to make their large mistakes.
We learn mostly be screwing up. If Spitzer was worth electing in the first place, and if he was actually doing the job well, I’m not sure how an existing weakness coming to light invalidates what he has been doing. If he’d campaigned against prostitution, that would be one thing — we certainly don’t need hypocrites in office. But if this is simply matter of poor personal choices, and he’s now had his wakeup call, I’m not sure New Yorkers are doing themselves a favour by demanding his resignation.
I don’t know about other people, but I’ve made mistakes in my life. And some of those mistakes have had consequences for people other than me. People didn’t write me off, and I’m grateful for it. I wouldn’t feel right about casting stones.
Regards,
Chris.
I’m afraid that I can’t see it quite as you apparently do. I think that there are many people who don’t spend large amounts of money on call girls over a substantial period of time. Now if he commits adultery once, I would tend to see it differently, though in church leaders I’m a little less tolerant than with secular leaders.
I don’t think a person who makes a [large] mistake should be eliminated from everything, but I think their role should change. The key positions of leadership should be for the best, most trustworthy people. Once trust is broken, I think that person’s role must change. For Spitzer, I think the combination of his own attitude toward other “sinners,” so to speak, combined with his action, puts his ability to provide moral leadership into question. Could he be restored as an attorney? I think it’s unlikely he’ll be disbarred, (I don’t recall whether one can be disbarred over a misdemeanor), but if he was, I’d support restoration. Could he function in some kind of public way? After a true apology and some time for reconsideration, certainly. But I don’t see his place as a major public leader after this.
In the same way I think folks like David Vitter or Larry Craig might still contribute something, but I think their deceitful acts require some repentance.
In most cases, fwiw, I don’t think impeachment or expulsion from whatever legislative body is the proper approach. I think except in rare instances the voters who sent them there should be the ones to remove them. Of course I would urge those voters to do so.
Henry:
I couldn’t agree more; even though all are called to the same standard, there is a biblical principle at work here: “to the one who is given much, much is required.”
I quite agree here that he should (and did) resign.
Regardless of his own personal morality, the expectations for public office holders should be no surprise to anyone. If you assume the role, you know what to expect.
Just so I’m clear, it is not just that he violated his own stated morality. I simply add a large “hypocrisy bonus” when someone has made a strong proclamation of virtue while failing to live up to it.
Of course, for a prosecutor, I want a pretty strong proclamation of virtue. Forgiveness is not, in my view, the province of prosecutors or attorneys-general.
I quite agree here that he should (and did) resign.
Regardless of his own personal morality, the expectations for public office holders should be no surprise to anyone. If you assume the role, you know what to expect.