Please Stop

John Edwards' former campaign aide Andrew Young has published his book, and as promised, it makes him out to be even more of an egomaniac than even the most cynical among us believed. It is interesting to have confirmed that the son of a millworker looks down with disgust on the "rednecks" from whom he courted votes. However, I'll just reiterate my call not to know any more, especially after reading this...

Young describes his alleged discovery of a compromising videotape of Edwards and a naked, pregnant lover, identified by Young as Hunter. “It was like watching a traffic pileup occur in slow motion — it was repelling but also transfixing,” he writes.

Shudder.

I think I know why I stayed out of working in politics, despite an obvious interest in it. Not because it makes me cynical (I was born that way) and not because I think it's dirty. It's because of having to be around people who so corrupted by money and power that they think it's okay to cheat on your wife (let alone your very sick wife), have your lover spend time with your kids behind your wife's back, obtain money under questionable pretenses to pay for the expenses of your lover, and still run for a job where the scrutiny will probably reveal even the minor secrets in your life. And my educated guess is that John Edwards isn't the only one.

Yes, those sorts of activities are carried on by people who aren't politicians, or even celebrities (I know of at least one friend who was cheating on his wife with a family friend who was over at his home all the time, hanging out with his kids). But having to be around it and then aid and abet it, for the purposes of furthering your own career... all the while doing a disservice to your country? To say it makes someone sick is probably an understatement.