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modify delete 10493 - from scholar (usa) - 2009-06-24
Society : "Political Scandal"

A string of recent news articles got me to thinking.

Oftentimes in politics a candidate or an elected person will be forced to resign over personal issues. Usually this includes such things as extramarital affairs or the behavior of their children. This is something that many people say is between the politician and his/her family and that it has little to do with their capacity to do their job well. Others argue that it speaks of their character and is fair game when evaluating whether they would be a good elected official. (Considering that none of this actually broke a law).

What do you think? Should a candidate's personal life be fair game for media coverage and consideration for the voting public? Does it really matter or is it just sensational news? Is this an issue in countries other than the US?


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modify delete 11522 - Reply from Paloma , 13 y.o. (USA) - 2010-08-25

I'm of two minds on this issue. While I do believe this should be a private matter between the politician's family, it does also speak of his character. After all, if he'll lie to his wife, why wouldn't he lie to his constituents? So I'm not really sure, because while the public has a right to be informed if their elected official is a liar and a cheat, it's not their business just who he was lying to or how he was cheating, unless it was about state or federal business.

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modify delete 10614 - Reply from yang , 24 y.o. (china) - 2009-08-05

in my opinion, politician should really pay much attention to their personal life.
they are supposed to have a good habit. they should not abuse the power they got, they should seperate their personal life with their plitical matter.
what's more, politician are the representative of the audiance, they must be aware of that whatever they do will cause such and such an influence upon people's daily life, no matter this influence is huge or not, they have to be serious and responsible for what they do.

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modify delete 10510 - Reply from scholar (usa) - 2009-07-02

Hi Anthony!
I agree. There are many different degrees of such problems and perhaps the degree is what makes it more or less relevant to the job. I particularly like your example about how if someone cannot manage their children (or perhaps other aspects of a personal life) then they may not have the ability to successfully manage any larger institution.

Thanks for the input!

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modify delete 10506 - Reply from Anthony (Uganda) - 2009-07-01

Hello scholar, it depend on the level of the behaviour under question.
How do you expect a father who can not take care of his children to take care of the whole country? then some of the issues may not truly affect his/her abilities of serving his people. Issues like marriage split may not affect one abilities



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