Political Double Lives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Political Double Lives - Essay Example ugh the media was slow to react, the story became front-page news, occupying television and newspapers’ attentions for weeks until it slowly faded away (Harris). The case of Edwards’ mishap provides a paradigm case of the private life of a public figure being made public. In many ways, this case study is symptomatic of an entire piece of the population that hold public office. The question surrounds the issue of whether they should be allowed to have a private life or whether their private matters ought to be kept out of the limelight. Certainly, there is a case to be made for keeping politicians’ lives under constant scrutiny. Recently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came under fire for her husband’s presidential library acceptance of large donations from the royal family of Saudi Arabia (Solomon and Birnbaum). Concerned about a conflict of interest, media scrutiny resolved the issue and nothing wrong could be found. This is a paradigm case of private affairs being pertinent in a public matter for a politician. Nevertheless, we should not make politicians sacrifice themselves as human beings for the greater good of the public’s democracy. However, this debate does not require us to choose between extremes. As Tony Blair recently said, â€Å"Ministers should not be judged on their private lives unless their behavior affected the performance of their public duties† (Webster). That is, only in cases where there is a potential conflict of interests, such as in Clinton’s case, should politicians revoke the right to privacy. This dispute originates, for the most part, because of the democratic structure of most developed countries’ governments (BBC). Constituents expect of those they rightly elect to represent them to represent them in all ways, both in the policies they advocate for on the job and how they live their lives off the job. Given the enormous power the people vest in their elected officials, it seems only right, in the context of social