Land of the Free, Home of the Hypocrites?

The recent developments with Herman Cain and his scandal pose this serious question: What standard should we hold our politicians to?

Has the United States of America become the “Land of the free, home of the hypocrites?”

Turn on basically any TV station during primetime and what will you see? There is a better-than-not chance that you will see a program laced with constant sexual humor, sexual activity and infidelity. Desperate Housewives, Gossip Girl, and even top medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy have strong sexual undertones. Sex sells.

At least when it isn’t real.

Politicians and athletes when confronted with sexual allegations often try their very best to sweep them under the rug and act like they never happened. What they are really trying to do is hide their humanity.

But there is good reason for this. If the public finds out about a sexual slip up made by one of these celebrity politicians or athletes, often times their careers and reputations are taken to irreparable lows.

The simple fact of the matter is that people love to point fingers, and people love to feel superior to others. Humans inherently make mistakes, it’s part of our nature. But what’s to say that the mistake of a celebrity should carry more weight than a mistake you or I make?

Take a look at Tiger Woods; hands down the most talented golfer ever to step on the lush green grass of a golf course. Woods was once the most recognizable and loved athlete in the world, in the realm of the Michael Jordans and Peyton Mannings. He was a titan, an untouchable, a golden boy that people could look to when they needed direction in life.

This all changed one fateful night when Woods was discovered crashed into a tree at the end of his driveway while fleeing from his then golf club brandishing wife. This was followed up by hundreds of allegations by women claiming to have slept with Woods while he was a married man and his subsequent divorce. He then became the most scrutinized man in America.

Woods, who was famous for being a professional golfer not a role model, was thrown under the bus by virtually everyone in the civilized world simultaneously for cheating on his wife and sleeping with hundreds of women. I understand this, and I share the sentiment with the Tiger haters out there: I am one of them. But for me, I always hated Tiger (I’m a Phil fan) and infidelity is my number one no-no in life.

However if you told most men that they could be married to a Swedish super model, be one of the richest athletes in the world and sleep with hundreds of other women without being caught for years upon years I can guarantee that they would take it. Yet millions of men around the country that would fall into this category jumped right on the Tiger-hating bandwagon.

So should we throw someone under the bus, and gather like an angry mob calling for their blood to be spilled for them doing something that probably over half of the members of the mob would do, or have already done in their lives?

Herman Cain was in the process of a meteoric rise to the top of the polls when allegations of past sexual harassment charges came to light regarding Cain and former women he had worked with. The debate has raged on since these accusations first emerged as to the credibility of the accusers, but regardless of the truth or falsity of the accusers, Cain’s reputation has taken a hit.

Last month on Fox News, Cain was actually beating Obama in a potential match up poll 43% to 41%. The most recent poll has Cain losing that same matchup by 10%.

I don’t by any stretch of the imagination think that people shouldn’t be accountable for their actions. I think quite the contrary, rather that people should be held absolutely accountable for his or her own actions.

I simply think that before we jump on the hate bandwagon of the next politician or celebrity to make a mistake, that we should look at our own values and actions. The change starts with the man in the mirror, and if we want a more moral public, and morally charged leaders then we should start with our own families and ourselves.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

-Matthew 7:3