THE EDWARDS AFFAIR:  A Warning Against Conservatives

The Real Message From Spitzer, Clinton, and Edwards' Downfalls

by

Thomas J. Bico

editor-in-chief

August 9, 2008 –  Horrible.  What a bad man.

What John Edwards is guilty of today is the same thing Eliot Spitzer was guilty of and, of course, is what William J. Clinton was guilty of.

If you listen to the nonsense that will float about the non-Moderate Independent media, you will hear that this shows liberals can't be trusted.  Obama will be like Edwards, who is like the rest of them - they can't keep their pants up.  More directly, the moral, as it will be stated is:  liberals can't be trusted.

But what the moral really is is this:  liberals can't be trusted to be conservatives.  And what the real issue is - and it is the one that is leading to America's collapse - is that the complete abandonment of the liberalism that gave birth to America and is essential to democracy threatens the nation.  In short:  America, get liberal or perish.

Now this may sound shocking.  Edwards, Spitzer, Clinton - didn't they show liberals are scum?

The reality is, that all three only did one thing wrong, and that wasn't having an affair; it was embracing the non-reality-based, nonsensical brand of philosophy known as conservatism.

Famously, now deceased French President Mitterand had both his wife and mistress at his funeral.  In fact, as the Times of London reported in February 2007, this is not uncommon or unexpected in France.  As they pointed out that President Chirac also had affairs, the paper offered the commentary:

"Like many French politicians, Mr Chirac has enjoyed a reputation as a Don Juan character. The late François Mitterrand, his predecessor, revealed an illegitimate daughter and secret second household before he left office in 1995."

Now it is one thing for a group of Americans to claim that affairs are the anti-Christ, that anyone who would cheat on their wife is evil and should be destroyed.  But there has to be room for the other school:  that men are men, reality is reality, and private life is no one's business.

What was so bad about Edwards today and Spitzer and Clinton in the past, was not that they had affairs, nor that they lied about them - lying about affairs to spare your spouse the jealousy is standard and expected.

The part where they truly went wrong was to not stand up after the fact and be honest.  People think they lied before the fact.  But the reality is that worst lie told by each was the lie they told after they got caught:  the lie that they felt bad for what they had done, that they knew it was wrong, that they were horrible people and needed to make it up to their families.

Because the inescapable reality is that none of these men were drugged or had guns held to their heads.  None suffered from any mental conditions.  Each made a choice.  They had their married life, but as they got older and had access to woman-seducing power, they wanted to have sex with other women.  What they were really upset about was two things:  1) that they got caught, and; 2) that it was big deal to get caught.

The first part actually is related to the second, and the second is really their own fault, and the problem that now saddles American society.  By going along, in their absurd apologies, with the idea that it is horrible to get caught having lied about being faithful, they make it more exciting and fair game to look into whether or not people are cheating.  What America needs to balance out things is anyone - anyone - to actually speak out with a liberal voice.

Both parties are entirely dominated by conservative social dogma.  Where is the politician brave enough, honest enough, and openly liberal enough to say people do what people do in private life, and it is none of your business?  Who will say it is ok for people to do as they do?

This is why the Democrats can't win the presidency.  They have allowed conservatives to win the conversation, letting their dishonest, unrealistic dogma go unchallenged.  John McCain is trying to show he is conservative enough, but Obama is not trying to prove he is really liberal enough.  No, instead they even proposed a conservative Republican, Senator Chuck Hagel, as his running mate.  What about Senator Feingold - a true maverick, and one of the few true liberals?  He is about the only person who voted right.  Obama brags about having been against the Iraq War from the start, but Feingold, who actually voted against it from the start as Obama claims he would have, is not even considered as a running mate.  He should be perfect.  Instead, he is left off the list as too liberal.

As conservative economics drags down the economy, conservative foreign policy bankrupts and embarrasses the nation, and conservative social policy has more American citizens in jail per capita than in any other country on the planet - yes, you read right, the land of the free, thanks to overly conservative laws, is the land of the least free - where do you hear even one liberal voice?  Where was even one liberal candidate running for the Democrats?

America is largely a liberal nation.  Yes, that's right, despite the soap box and propaganda/PR-dictated nonsense, when Americans - "conservative" and "liberal" - get off their soap boxes, they watch movies with nudity, go to strip clubs, drink excessively, cheat on lovers and spouses, get wild in the bedroom - just like everyone else on the planet does.  All of this Scarlet Letter conservatism leads to oppression, misery, and rule by a war-minded ruling class wherever it exists, from Saudi Arabia to China to Washington.

For Democracy to survive, it requires embrace of liberalism.  Conservatism and democracy are diametrically opposed.  Live and let live, right to live freely as you choose, these are the roots of democracy, and so of America.  Founded by Jefferson, who had affairs with slaves, Franklin, who was very openly liberal, and other normal humans, it is time for America to grow up or perish.  Conservatism is a tale you tell children.  Be good, Santa will give you something.  Real adults acknowledge sex, lust, beauty, fun, happiness - these are not bad things; they are, in fact, what make life worth living.

And so another hypocritical conservative - John Edwards (yes, he is not a liberal but another who chose to put on conservative, moralistic clothing) - bites the dust.  Like Spitzer and Clinton before him, they didn't have the courage to admit what they really felt and believed - that having occasional affairs is something they want to do, and that there is nothing wrong with that.  Starting wars based on lies is wrong.  Enjoying intimacy with another human, that is beautiful - and fun.

Barack Obama is another of these hybrids, claiming some form of liberalism while clinging morally and socially to conservative dogma nonsense.  If Barack Obama really wants to fix America, he needs to start the conversation we have yet to hear, one that not only criticizes Bush and McCain, but which takes conservatism to task, and, more importantly, proudly touts liberalism as America's lifeblood and center of truth.  So henpecked by feminists are American men - and Democrats in particular - that they have lost the ability to say anything honest.  And so they fall.  One, by one, by one.

And maybe Obama will be next.  The man claims he would have been the bold liberal to stand up against George Bush on Iraq.  He claims he wants a Vice President who shares his views and passion for a different way.  If he means anything he says, there is really only one choice for his VP, and that is Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold.

If he chooses someone more conservative, then regardless of if he is cheating on his wife or not, he is no better than another Edwards/Spitzer/Clinton.