Does it really matter which Achilles' heel brings down our elected officials? Sex, money, drugs, or a host of other seductive suspects are in every gangsters toolkit don't you know? Any one of which is a slam dunk for your average American.
When the wise guys go to work on someone... games over. Either they help you in, or they help you out, but the ever present quid pro quo applies, with one exception. If they help you win, they own you for life.
In my experience, no one is immune to coercion. Whether you are drawn to drugs, kinky sex or celibacy, whether you are orphaned or blueblood to the bone, you are vulnerable to someone or susceptible to something illegal, immoral, or just plain more fun than the law allows. (Junkets come to mind.) It is in our nature.
Even modest motivational sources, like ambition, family, religion, or sense of duty pale to the power behind the appropriate bribe or blackmail leverage.
Where this leads is to a society compromised by its own antiquated, hypocritical sense of morality. No society is any stronger than its most compromised officials, regardless of whether they are public or private.
Isn't it time we stop crippling ourselves by expecting saintly behavior from everyone? Wouldn't our society be better served if our morals matured into a more tolerant, consensual set of values? Can’t we leave Victoria’s hypocritical influence, and the religious guilt tripping to the last millennia?
Haven't we had our collective noses rubbed in enough dirt to learn anything?
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