N.J. Gov. Part II
As you will notice from the original post I said nothing about him resigning or why he resigned. I think he did the right thing in resigning and I don't think his resignation really had anything to do with him being gay. I do think the fact that the person he had the affair with was going to blackmail him was why he came out. The post was an attack on the people in this country that make it so that people who are gay can't be honest about who they are and still have to hide in a closet. That I think is a shame.
I also don't think Jack Ryan should have stepped down and neither should have Bob Livingston. I don't care how or who one has a consensual sexual relationship with. I don't care if your having an affair. I don't even care if you are a state judge and like to pick up law clerks in the gym shower. As long as you are doing your job and doing it well then stay. If not and you can no longer be effective then leave. It should not be based on with whom or how you like to have sex. In this case, the NJ Gov. was probably not doing his job well and should have stepped down for other reasons. I honestly don't know enough about NJ state politics to make an assessment of his work as Gov. I just want us as a society get to a point where we assess people on how good they are in their job and not on who they sleep with.
I also don't think Jack Ryan should have stepped down and neither should have Bob Livingston. I don't care how or who one has a consensual sexual relationship with. I don't care if your having an affair. I don't even care if you are a state judge and like to pick up law clerks in the gym shower. As long as you are doing your job and doing it well then stay. If not and you can no longer be effective then leave. It should not be based on with whom or how you like to have sex. In this case, the NJ Gov. was probably not doing his job well and should have stepped down for other reasons. I honestly don't know enough about NJ state politics to make an assessment of his work as Gov. I just want us as a society get to a point where we assess people on how good they are in their job and not on who they sleep with.
5 Comments:
Personal jabs aside, it seems unrealistic to say that an extramarital affair--be it heterosexual or homosexual in nature--will not affect one's performance on the job. Further, taking you argument to the logical extreme, you would find nothing wrong with an incestual sexual relationship, if consensual. Or one's decision to fornicate with a goat, so long as neither the goat nor the person objected. Assuming, as your position goes, that such relationships had no effect on one's work.
I think it is a sad statement about society when all of us have to hide our extramarital affairs. We shouldn't be blackmailed into coming out with them. Marriage should be an open relationship for all!
If one wants to have sex with a goat I say more power to you. What do I care if you are having sex with a goat. You maybe wierd but that does not mean you can't be a good Gov. Do you think that anything outside of norm sexually disqualifies you from hold public office? Should gays be allowed to hold public office? Does having an affair exclude you from holding public office? I don't think that these thing should exlude you from holding office. I did not hear repubs calling for Rudy to step down after his mistress moved into Gracie mansion with him.
Neither political party called for McGreevey's resignation. He did so on his own.
Why you would choose to politicize the issue confuses me. I don't see the relevance of your comment about Guiliani.
In any event, my point was simply that any extramarital affair--regardless of whether it is homo, hetero, or goat--is likely to have an effect on one's job performance, in the public or private sector.
Lastly, I reiterate my independence from any political party.
As one who has had an affair let me say that it has no effect what so ever on my performance at work. I was just as lazy and shiftless before, during and now after the affair is over.
My point with the reference to Rudy was that he was in the middle of an affair during 9/11 and I think he did a fine job. His girlfriend moved into the mayor mansion while he was still married and he was still a good mayor.
I totally agree that the issue should not be political. That is my entire point. Why should what someone does in bed matter at all? However, we sadly live in the era of politics of personal destruction and we will keep tearing people down because some think it promotes their cause. I want a political debate about ideas not who sleep with whom.
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