It recently came out that the Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, stated that he has smoked crack cocaine. He then got very violent with the press when they questioned him on it later. A few weeks later he made a statement that said he would've admitted sooner if the question had been posed to him correctly. They previously asked him, "Do you do drugs?" not "Have you done drugs?" Two different questions, two different answers.
There's a stir in the media over this, many residents of Toronto no longer want him as their Mayor. They don't want someone who does drugs running their city. Someone asked me recently my thoughts.
Do I think that what someone has done in their past should be held against them for life?
It depends.
And let me explain using a hypothetical situation.
James is a 21-year-old college student. He's at a party where people around him are smoking marijuana. He decides he wants to try some. He does, doesn't really care for it, and never does it again. Two years later, James graduates Suma Cum Laude from his University and lands a job with a major law firm in a big city. Fast-forward ten years and James is running for a political office in his city. One of the people he went to college with comes forward and says he saw James partaking in recreational drugs once. Should James still be allowed to run for office?
Yes, he should. He was 21-years-old, he experimented, he learned from it, he became a better version of himself, and is now a respectable lawyer. That one night in college shouldn't matter. He was in his learning phase. If James had continued to use marijuana recreationally, let it affect his grades, dropped out of college and committed a major crime (assault, battery, murder, etc.) then I could understand why people wouldn't want them running his city.
Think about yourself for a minute? Is there something in your past that you wish you hadn't done? Is there something that if you were running for office, if it were to come up, it would haunt you? If you just cringed at the thought, then you're in the same boat.
Now, I don't think James' situation is the same as Mayor Rob Ford's. But I do think it's something that needs to be brought up. I don't think something like this should be a factor in whether or not someone is qualified to run for office. I feel the same way about adultery with political figures - just because someone isn't happy in their marriage, doesn't mean they aren't capable of running a city or state.
I know my opinion is extremely controversial, so I would love to hear what others think!
I don't think your position is controversial. Politicians are generally not penalized for having experimented with drugs in their youth. The main thing that Clinton got criticized for was not inhaling, he lost a lot of credibility with that statement. It is very hard for people to seriously accept that somebody tried pot but didn’t inhale. Does anybody even remember that Obama fully admitted to inhaling? He did.
ReplyDeleteThe problem comes in when politicians in office are engaged in illegal drug use. Rob Ford is not the only politician that has run into this problem and it is not a problem that is easily forgiven or forgotten.
A lot of people will never forget the former Mayor of D.C. Marion Berry, who was videotaped smoking crack with a girl in a hotel room. We currently have a somewhat similar situation in U.S. politics, although it has not gotten as much media attention as the very interesting and colorful Rob Ford. U.S. Congressman, Trey Radel recently pled guilty to cocaine possession.
That's just the illegal stuff, I'd love to see a report on alcohol and prescription drug abuse in Washington - maybe all of this helps explain why they do what they do.