America Survives With Sex Scandals

There has always been a battle in America between those who want a big government and those that don't; in fact, it began within George Washington's administration, and the two men driving this argument were both caught in their own sex scandals. 

Alexander Hamilton was George Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, and he was the champion of the "big government" school of thought. Opposing this was another member of Washington's cabinet, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who would face his own public sex scandal (the Sally Hemings story) at a later date.

From 1776 to 2015, a whopping 239 years, America has, for the most part, always been embroiled in some kind of sex scandal that has been associated with politics.

1. From 1776 to 1899 – there were 8 sex scandals
2. From 1900 to 1960 – there were 5 sex scandals
3. From 1970 to 1979 – there were 8 sex scandals
4. From 1980 to 1989 – there were 11 sex scandals
5. From 1990 to 1999 – there were 13 sex scandals
6. From 2000 to 2009 – there were 19 sex scandals
7. From 2010 to 2014 – there were 17 sex scandals

Grand Total = 81 sex scandals

America has been averaging a sex scandal every 3 years since she won her independence from Great Britain.

It would appear that America's sex scandals seem to be alarmingly increasing since 1980 with the decade 2010 to 2019 on track to contain the most with 34-40 being estimated.

Let me state that while male politicians are by far the worst, there are several females who have allowed themselves to become ensnared in a sex scandal.

So, what is a sex scandal?

A sex scandal is a scandal involving allegations or information about possibly-immoral sexual activities being made public.

Sex scandals are often associated with sexual affairs of movie stars, politicians, famous athletes or others in the public eye, and become scandals largely because of the prominence of the person involved, perceptions of hypocrisy on their part, or the non-normative or non-consensual nature of their sexuality.
A scandal may be based on reality, the product of false allegations, or a mixture of both.

Sex scandals involving politicians often become political scandals, particularly when there is an attempt at a cover-up, or suspicions of illegality.

Americans are intrigued by sex scandals, I think, because of what they do for us and not just because of what they reveal about others; they make us feel better about ourselves.

Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher would argue that in order to be happy (flourish is a better term) in life, one ought to be virtuous; and, that this virtue can only come about through moral habit and intellectual training.

But, for most Americans these days, happiness does not really come from this concept of doing good, but from watching others do bad.

One of the earliest behaviors that I learned in industry was “if you could not look good, then make everyone else look worse.”

As tragically sad as that sounds, it is the basis of how most organizations actually operate whether we want to admit that or not.

• We see these people as strange and/or weird
•  We see these people as evil
• We see these people as perverted

Consequently, we see ourselves are MORALLY SUPERIOR; and the irony in feeling like this is that many of us also have skeletons in the closet but have not been caught yet.

I am now reminded of a former minister of a Church that I attended who on numerous occasions told the congregation that what he had been told in private by the members created the following statistic that over 50% of them had or were having an extramarital affair; oddly enough, that same minister left the Church and the community because he was caught in an extramarital affair with one of his married members of the Church.

“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

I have come to realize over the years that Americans are getting very, very good at living with their own hypocrisies.

The 2 political sex scandals that I remember most for some reason happened with Presidents Kennedy and Clinton.

President Kennedy was born into a family of privilege whose money was attained by his father bootlegging Rum during prohibition and other legitimate business enterprises. He was Harvard educated and had every opportunity a man could ask for. He was considered the consummate politician, husband, and family man. Everybody loved and admired him and simply ignored the fact that he had affairs with just about every pretty women with whom he came into contact.

President Clinton was not born into a family or privilege but was extremely intelligent being a Rhodes Scholar. He was a good old boy who loved to eat and joke and have fun and party. He had a huge ego and was over-loaded with self-confidence. His affairs were legendary and even resulted in Congress trying to impeach him from the Presidency but failed. The Clintons had a powerful political machine but the people loved him and respected him and still do.

I don't think the American public cares about sex scandals that might be associated with the middle class or even that takes place among married couples in the lower class. Americans only care about sex scandals with the “Rich and Famous” for some reason, as though we like watching their “fall from grace.”

Another reason is that we are more tolerant of watching different types of sexual behaviors in our television shows that it has become more or less commonplace. Not only is sex more commonplace but clothes have gotten more skimpy than say 20 years ago. I have also realized that the acceptable use of profanity has increased as well as the number of words.

I am liberal minded and have always been liberal minded but I have always been grounded that those institutions like the Church and Television had strict moral codes by which they both lived. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

In short, there are no longer any moral police around to keep the rest of us honest.

We all know that SEX SELLS and that it always has and no doubt always will... and, in America and among American politics we are going to have an endless supply of sex scandals in both our near and distant future...

Aren't we the lucky ones?