Do you think that male politicians are more corrupt and sexually aggressive than women? If you look at the articles written on this subject, I’m sure you would say, “Yes.” Can anything be done about? This really has nothing to do with whether the politician is Republican or Democrat. I believe that there is a cure, although I doubt that it will be adopted.
The Andrew Cuomo scandal is the latest example of this problem. Of course, not everyone believes that Cuomo was guilty of sexual aggression, but enough women charged him with that fault so it is hard to ignore. Cuomo resigned, as did Al Franken. It’s a good thing that he did, because stringing the issue along wouldn’t help at all.
Let me propose something that’s pretty radical, but if it were adopted it might solve the problem. First, we should have a special, independent police branch that investigates allegations of corruption and sexual aggression by elected officials. The members of the police branch should include both men and women, and the head of the police branch should have no political ties. The police branch should investigate all complaints and report publicly to the prosecutors. That’s right; none of this should be secret.
Second, officials successfully prosecuted for corrupt activities or sexual aggression while in office should be punished by losing the right to hold public office for at least 15 years. It isn’t even necessary that the culprit serve jail time. Being prevented from being a politician is a severe enough penalty. The law should be federal and affect the right to hold any federal, state or local office.
Third, all officials should be required to state under oath that they understand that corruption or sexual aggression will deprive them of the right to act as a public official.
Fourth, there should be a special court appointed to determine whether such officials are guilty.
Fifth, amnesty and pardons should not apply to such crimes. Conviction should result in a loss of the right to hold public office for at least 15 years, but it could be a for a longer period if the court so determines.
I won’t go into a long harangue about how many politicians are guilty of these crimes. We know that there are plenty of them, and many haven’t been punished. We know that Trump was involved in sexual aggression, but possibly not while he was president. On the other hand, Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy did such things while they were in office. Well, so did Warren Harding.
We, the electorate, didn’t vote for politicians so that they could latch onto women, nor so that they could rob us blind. I’m not saying that there aren’t honest politicians, but there are too many who aren’t. It’s time now to do something about it. So I’m suggesting a cure that might really work.
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