In Dante's Divine Comedy corrupt politicians and hypocrites reside in the penultimate circle of Hell, up to their necks in boiling tar for all eternity. The punishment on this mortal plain in this time is significantly less severe, although the embarrassment is almost as bad.
There's a concept that I touch upon in the last chapter of my book called "Trickle-Down Bullshit". Trickle-Down Economics couldn't work because people like to hold onto their money, but they're more than happy to pass bullshit down. People not only do things privately that they decry publicly, but -in many of the recent cases- actively work against people just like them; Spizer was brought down by the very legal mechinations that he pioneered to prosecute white-collar crime and Mark Foley was one of the most vocal congressional opponents of internet sexual predators.
I'm glad Spitzer resigned, flat out. Not because prostitution is wrong, I personally think it should be legal and, unlike the "legalize it" post I did Friday, I don't (and won't) have any personal experience to color my opinion on the subject. Not because he betrayed his wife; some couples may be tolerant of such things, but the look on her face at the press conference suggests otherwise.
No, he should have resigned because he's a hypocrite and hypocrisy up high leads to hypocrisy trickling down below. I realize that politicians and integrity go together like healthy and bacon, but the modern day political machine runs on getting worked up over issues that gets quickly forgotten when it's politically advantageous. Military service is an easy example: one of the reasons Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush were more suited to be Commander-in-Chief than Bill Clinton because they served in the military. Suddenly, when the person that isn't their guy has more military service- Al Gore, John Kerry and John McCain- then they get "swift boated". With McCain this is especially heinous, the man could have been released after 6 months, but refused to use his father's considerable political power to be released any earlier than the POWs captured before him and spent an extra 5 years in the "Hanoi Hilton".
Lest you think I'm not an equal opportunity slammer, check out this speech from Bill Clinton from when John Kerry ran for president:
In fact it's kinda good that Spitzer is a Democrat, it's gives us of the more liberal persuasion a chance to walk it like we talk it. What would it make us if we didn't?
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