Sex and the Quest for Power

What do Bob Packwood, Bob Livingston, John Ensign and Larry Craig all have in common?  Let me give you a hint: Tony Gonzales and Eric Swalwell.  Now you’ve got it.  All these men had to resign from national public office because of sexual misconduct.  Actually “misconduct” is a white-washed word.  These men abused the trust and position of authority they had been given by the electorate to prey on younger women for prurient satisfaction.  Well, Larry Craig is an exception in one small way.  Craig, who was a vocal and aggressive persecutor of homosexuals, referring to members of the LGBTQ community as abominations, was found soliciting sex from men in a public bathroom.  [Note to self: the louder someone condemns an activity, the stronger the possibility they engage in the same.] 

            Most people acquainted with rape in all its forms, from violent and brutal assault to coercion and blackmail, know that it has nothing to do with sexual satisfaction but everything to do with power.  Over the last 18 months we have gotten a dose of men who use women to exert, enjoy and impose their power on others.  Nor is this found only in the political arena.  Look at all the leaders of national and international commerce who were clients and cohorts of Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein was nothing more than a pimp.  Being a wealthy pimp does not put any shine on that fecal sample.  He was a pimp and everyone from our President to people of power and influence knew it, enjoyed it and spent time with him because they liked what he was doing.  Period.  Don’t try to give me any modification of that statement.  You will end up talking to the hand.  He was. You knew.  End of story.  

Evidently if you put any morality you espouse on one side of a scale and power on the other, power wins every time.  What you might lose if discovered does not enter the equation because you count on power and money (another manifestation of power) to shield you.   Look at people like Swalwell, who was heading for the governorship of California, maybe even the White House, and lost it all.  Consider Bill Cosby, who may have been the most loved and trusted person in America, who still needed the rush of drugging women and then using them in any carnal fashion he chose.  He could have paid for sex, seduced for sex, even found a loving companion with whom he could share sex (oh, wait, that is called a wife) but it was never about the sex.  Power was always the draw. 

I have frequently said that while I do love men, I do not understand them.  The current parade of males who are rapists (forget the legal definition, if it quacks like a duck, swims like a duck, and hangs around in the pond with other ducks it damn well is a duck) has done nothing to clear up my confusion.  But I do know one thing, at least as it pertains to politicians.  Politics is the organized conferral of power and that power comes with responsibilities commensurate with the scope of the office.  If a man does not have the self-discipline to control the sexual manifestation of power, he can not control any aspect of power.  Weakness runs the length of the body.  Insecurity is pervasive.  An eye for immediate satisfaction at the expense of long-term success is a fatal flaw. 

If you choose to excuse, condone, or marginalize this behavior for your own personal reasons, you might also be a slave to power.  Set a higher bar and keep the faith.