From Watergate to Weinergate

If we look carefully at all the various “gates” over the last forty years, we could easily conclude that they all had one subject in common.

The decision.

President Nixon decided to deny, then hide, then cover and then resign.

President Clinton decided to make this statement on national television; “I did not have sex with that woman…Miss Lewinsky.” Somehow he survived, and now treated like a hero.

Rep Weiner (as of 6-09-11), who is now reeling from his original decision to deny his gate, is facing an avalanche of negative sentiment even from his own party. He’s still floating down the river of denial…more to come.

And, these are just a few gates that we can see. Just think of all those we can’t see.

It’s not that any individual couldn’t find themselves square in the middle of a scandal as an accident, but it seems a bit harder to digest when it was a purposeful decision…especially when it’s an elected official.

In many of these cases, they could have stopped the bleeding if they had simply not continued with the false story.

The product of all of this is the matter of trust, and trust cuts both ways. It’s hard to gain, and once lost, even harder to re-gain. That said, we continue to act confounded when these officials act out their fantasies in public, but who put them there?

As a nation, it seems that once we elect these cats, we tend to dose with our watchful eye. Since these thoughtless activities are becoming more frequent, maybe this should be a wakeup call for us (as individuals) to continue our due diligence until they finish their term…outside the gates.

As always…you decide.

Discovery    Commitment    Solution    Action