BradSpangler.com

While I think all politicians should resign their offices, preferably simultaneously and en masse, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has had a tendency to particularly annoy me since his days as a prosecutor, especially over his role in the anti-tobacco jihad, of which this link isn’t necessarily the best example but it is the handiest at the moment.

So now Spitzer is resigning the New York governorship over the matter of his being a client of a prostitute. It seems to me that the most shameful aspect of this, even worse than breaking his promise to his wife, would be that he could have worked to legalize prostitution, but chose to instead just violate prohibitions he felt perfectly comfortable prosecuting others for breaking.

Spitzer breaking his marriage vow to his wife violates the trust of one person, or that of their whole family at most. Spitzer at the head of the state of New York can do far more damage to a lot more innocent people. That he has produced such damage in his role as prosecutor to people engaged in the sex trade (among others) and should then lose his political career over his own involvement in the sex trade seems fitting, even if it isn’t quite justice. A libertarian understanding of the word justice would include compensation to his victims, such as the people he has unjustly prosecuted in the past for crimes against the state that aren’t crimes against persons or property. Until we can bring about true libertarian justice, though, poetic justice will have to do.

See also: Eliot Spitzer sullies prostitutes with his presence by J.D. Tuccille

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 4:21 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.