Raucous Young Men & Randy Politicians Need to Pull Their Pants Up!
by Betty Jean Grant
Betty Jean Grant
For years, the worse place I wanted to be was to be walking behind a young man or a group of teenagers who were walking gap legged while holding onto the waist of their jeans to keep them from falling down around their ankles. I tell you, I have seen more than my share of dirty underwear or in some cases, no underwear at all!
The situation, however, with some of our randy, male politicians and the need for them to Pull Up Their Pants comes from a different angle that has more to do with sexual misconduct than it does from young men from the ‘hood’ who are wearing their pants below their behinds, trying to be defiant to the ways society wants them to dress, act and behave.
In a few days, Congress will be short two duly elected representatives. Democrat, Eric Swalwell, from the great state of California and Republican Tony Gonzales, from the great state of Texas, will resign or retire from their elected seats due to confirmed and nonconfirmed allegations of sexual misconduct with a subordinate or staffer in their respective office.
Why do people who have a history of sexual harassment run for political office expecting that they will not be exposed? Many of the victims of these encounters are young interns working or volunteering for a politician or a candidate running for office. From former President, Bill Clinton, to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to the Congressman, Eric Swalwell, who was running to become Governor of California, these gentlemen clearly were not thinking with their ‘big heads’. There is a saying, “Don’t go to the toilet at the same place where you eat.”
In addition to the embarrassment and the stepping away from political office or abandoning promising campaigns, families have been hurt and marriages have been compromised or lost. In cases where the intern or victim did give consent, the element of alcohol or recreational drugs come into play and that so- called ‘consent’ is questioned or challenged if charges are later filed.
There are too many cases coming forward that lead me to believe that certain candidates are not too smart, or they are engaging in risky and potentially criminal behaviors because they feel they are too powerful to be held accountable and therefore are invincible.
Sexual misconduct and sexual harassment are being heard and talked about more often lately. I am not sure if the incidences are happening more often or that young women are speaking up more when they are forced to engage in this kind of activity in order to keep their job or standing in the political arena.
When this writer was young and something bad happened in the south, people believed that something else just as bad might follow it. The people would say something like they were ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop’. As it relates to a few of those in public office regarding improper or criminal sexual harassment or misconduct; here, in Erie County, I am waiting for one or maybe two of those political shoes to drop, in the very near future.