The Spitzer Situation as a Teaching Moment with a Libertarian Slant

My youngest daughter and I began discussing the situation with the ex governor of New York and his relationship with the escort service. The newspapers and television have covered it extensively and have continuously bashed the governor for his behavior. Now, assuming he only used his personal money for this affair, is what he did wrong? and should he have resigned? Ok, I've read that he wasn't always the nicest of guys, but that's not the issue, the question is, did he do something wrong?

This was a consensual relationship between two adults, and done in the privacy of a hotel room. Whether safe sex was practiced or not, is a decision that they made and why should any of us judge it? Yes he was married, but that is an issue between the governor and his wife. And yes prostitution is considered illegal but so is smoking marijuana, cheating on income taxes, drinking and driving and a variety of other activities that many adults participate in. Most of the media jumped on the bandwagon and condemned the governor for doing something they considered "wrong." But "wrong" according to whose standards?

What the governor did was an issue between him his wife and the other woman. It did not involve anyone else and noone was hurt except his family and that is a personal matter that the governor brought on himself. So why such a media outcry? Probably because it had to do with the provactive word "Sex." Although many people do not choose to pay for sex, others do, and that is a decision made between consenting adults.

I do not see how having a heterosexual or homosexual affair, paid for or not, warrants the media scrutiny the governor faced. Sure he had to deal with the fallout at home and with his kids, but what makes it any of the public's business who he is sleeping with. I'm a believer that what goes on in a bedroom should stay in the bedroom and is a very personal activity. Obviously the governor enjoys sex and yes he paid for it, but does that impact his ability to govern the state of New York, anymore than it would impact my job as a teacher? I think not, and I think the media ruined his career because of a personal issue that had no bearing on his job.