Yiddish. Hebrew alphabet (read right to left). Germanic language. “A shanda far die Goyim”. An embarrassment/shame in front of the whole (non-Jewish) world. This from an admonition for Jews, from their Jewish community, that one had an obligation to act in a manner to avoid criticism from non-Jews (“the rest of the world”) because an individual’s failings or actions would be unfairly attributed to all Jews. “You’re an embarrassment that reflects poorly on the rest of us” and we’ll suffer the consequences because of your stupidity.

* it’s okay if you’re a republican. An on-line political meme. If a Democrat fails ethically or morally there will be consequences. They will lose their position. They must resign. There will be a political reckoning. If the roles are reversed and a republican fails in the same manner, for some republicans, after a short period of hand wringing and some pearl clutching, all is forgiven, it’s no big deal.

It will be very interesting to witness the resolution of these cultural constants.

The public story is, as of this writing, still under twenty-four hours old. The story broke late last night that Missouri’s governor, Eric Greitens (r), who happens to be Jewish, engaged in an affair. There are elements of this story that continue to swirl about. I expect there will be more – only because that is the nature of our cultural and political environment.

There are reports that well before the November 2016 election individual(s) within the Missouri Democratic Party was/were contacted by the husband of the other party. We don’t know the entire story of how many individuals or exactly all of the who within the Missouri Democratic Party and Chris Koster’s (D) gubernatorial campaign knew at the time. We might never know the answer to that. The reports indicate that those individual(s), out of deference to the husband and/or concern for the children of the other family and perhaps other, more practical concerns, decided to not use the information. That is an ethical and moral choice.

And then, we consider the “what if”. If they story of Eric Greitens’ (r) hypocrisy had come out in September 2016 would he still have won the election for governor? If not, would Governor Chris Koster (D) have signed the same bills and cut the same essential social support programs in the state? I think not. The consequences of Eric Greitens (r) assuming his office had significant consequences for more than the handful of individuals in those two families. That, by definition, is what happens when we elect an individual to a powerful public office.

Election have consequences. Throw the anvil.

Sadly, perhaps the only people who are somewhat thankful right now are the Missouri Farm Bureau, the Missouri Corn Growers Association, the Missouri Soybean Association, and organized labor.

Previously:

Oh, my. (January 11, 2018)

Oh, my – part 2 (January 11, 2018)

Oh, my – part 3 (January 11, 2018)