NEW YORK—New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace this week after being linked to a high-class prostitution ring should be a warning to other corrupt politicians, or any politician for that matter, that the quality of the nation or state does indeed have everything to do with the quality of its individual people—especially its leaders.
You can have a state with a lofty-talking, crime-busting governor like Eliot Spitzer, who rose to fame as a New York Attorney General, taking on the corruption of Wall Street and even earning the name "Mr. Clean," but if that governor isn't genuinely a good person—busting prostitution rings while sampling the goods—then at the end of the day, you don't have much at all.
In his short statement last Monday, Spitzer said, "I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals."
Spitzer's statement couldn't be further from the truth. In the long run, the course of the nation and its policies has everything to do with individuals who make up the nation—just look at the individuals who have shaped the nation and with it, the nation's politics. Look at George Washington or any of the founding fathers, or look at Abraham Lincoln. Just ask the remaining veterans who fought in World War II—Americans might be hailing Hitler today if it weren't for individual politicians.
It should be noted that the immediately following sentence in Spitzer's statement goes: "[Politics] is about ideas, the public good and doing what's best for the state of New York." But these are empty words. What ideas are you talking about if the people and their leaders aren't genuinely being good, what public good could possibly come from that, and how could that be what's best for the state of New York?
Spitzer's actions seem to be the pinnacle of this type of bankrupt thinking, which has included former President Bill Clinton, former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, and Idaho Senator Larry Craig—who all committed sexual misconduct. Hopefully, the immense weight of Spitzer's tragedy, one that has turned Mr. Clean into Mr. Sleaze overnight, will shake the foundations of politics the world over, or at least in New York.
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