Spitzer? I Hardly Know 'Er!

As many of you have probably heard by now, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been linked to a high end prostitution ring by federal investigators. There have been numerous calls for his resignation after prosecutors unsealed an affidavit detailing a rendezvous in a Washington hotel room last month.

I have to say that I've been a fan of Spitzer's for quite a while now. As state Attorney General he took on major corporate interests and organized crime figures responsible for inflicting crimes upon the citizens of New York and beyond. He kind of reminded me of Bobby Kennedy going after the mob during his brother's administration in the sixties. That said, I must admit that I'm deeply disappointed in him after all of this.

Not because he visited a prostitute or anything as trivial and simple-minded as that. Not even because he cheated on his wife of 20 years. How can we know what the status of their marriage is or the arrangements they've made with each other? That is a private matter for them and their family that is none of our business. No, I'm disappointed because this is just one more example of the rank hypocrisy exhibited by one of our elected officials.

Of course, I blame the American people just as much as I do these public servants (and yes, I include myself in this group to a degree). This practice we have of putting these people up onto a pedestal, insisting that they be squeaky-clean idealists, that they have a happy family life, that they be photogenic and look good speaking in front of a bank of microphones, that they be absolutely free from "sin", etc. These are only human beings, no better than you or I. Then when they inevitably fall from grace for whatever reasons, the hysterical, hyper-partisan political climate that we've all embraced as a country shifts into overdrive and they are maligned as monsters and crooks that must be held up as examples of whichever side of the political spectrum they inhabit, when they (and each of us, for that matter) are merely deeply flawed individuals, trying to do the best we can in an imperfect world.

But again, what bothers me is the hypocrisy: you prosecute people for organized crime and prostitution, so now you're going to have sex with a prostitute? To David Vitter: you slammed Bill Clinton on his extra-marital affairs in the nineties, so now you're going to cheat on your wife? To Mark Foley: you're in charge of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, so now you're going to hit on and proposition young congressional pages? To Larry Craig: you take every opportunity to condemn homosexuality and block equal marriage rights for gays, so now you're going to have sex with another man in an airport restroom? Aside from the pedophilia (which is a morally grey area at best when it involves seventeen year olds), I have no personal moral objections to these men's actions, but couldn't you at least decide to engage in an activity that was somewhat different from the exact same one you've gone on public record for vehemently opposing?

Which brings me to the subject of prostitution (settle down). As I alluded to in a previous post and promised to expand upon at a later date, I have no problem with the use of illegal substances by consenting adults in the privacy of their own homes and I view prostitution in much the same light. Full disclosure: I have never slept with a prostitute. Not that I would be ashamed of it if I had but I just haven't. Some buddies and I did find ourselves at an Asian "massage parlor" in downtown San Francisco one night and many of the girls were very attractive but I opted out of the transaction when I found out that I couldn't just get a massage. Again, I did this not out of some moral objection but more for the reasons of possible uncleanliness and almost certain disease (plus it would have been a lot more expensive).

Of course, the Interwebs have been abuzz on this subject for the past 36 hours and I have seen many common sense questions being asked. Among them: why is it illegal for me to pay a prostitute for sex but a director can pay two people to have sex on film and then make money selling the DVD? Why is there such a social stigma against prostitutes and johns while Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson are treated like celebrities by the media? Why is it that if I pay two people to have sex in my bedroom while I watch it's prostitution but if I watch these same two people on a DVD in my bedroom it's just pornography? And what I consider one of the clearest and most succinct questions on this subject: why is it illegal to sell, what it is perfectly legal to give away?

As I stated in this post, I think that Americans have some massive hangups when it comes to sex and sexuality but I think the problem goes deeper than that. We are an anachronism as a society: we enjoy greater amounts of wealth and pleasure as a people than any civilization in history and yet we inflict upon ourselves unbelievable amounts of guilt and shame for this same enjoyment; a sometimes almost imperceptible but often blatant self-imposed penance. Now I don't want to solely blame the proliferation of religion in our society for these hangups so I'll only blame it for the vast majority of them.

I regret starting this line of thought as I am now out of time to properly elucidate upon it but I promise to in the near future. I do hope that what I have written today on this subject will spur some interesting discussions amongst all of you and your families and friends. More to come (pun completely unintended).

[Update: Eliot Spitzer resigned as governor of New York state the day after this post was written.]