Eliot Spitzer and the Tragedy of Liberal and Leftist Assumptions about Human Nature

Such is the nature of the tragedy and the shock that liberals (both hard and soft) feel about Eliot Spitzer: The Independent Liberal's Kevin Sullivan is understandably depressed, and the Intrepid Liberal Journal's Robert Ellman fears that the Spitzer scandal will halt the Empire State's recent progressive momentum:

As a reform minded New York liberal I'm deeply saddened by today's events. For too long, state government in New York has awarded contracts based on bribes instead of merit while decisions impacting the livelihood of millions were made in secret. In 2006, Spitzer earned a mandate from the people to tackle Albany's pervasive influence peddling culture that squanders tax dollars, mismanages the Mass Transit Authority, ignores public education and only excels at building prisons. Spitzer's fall from grace may well have set back the cause of reform in the Empire State for another fifty years. (Intrepid Liberal Journal, The Fall of Eliot Spitzer).

The Liberal Journal, like most of us, is frankly at a lost to explain Spitzer's behavior, other than to say that, somehow, Spitzer began to think he was above the law:

Spitzer was a high achiever his entire career, and after a successful tenure as Attorney General, he cruised to the highest office in the state. He campaigned on taking that same fight to the big guys in Albany, but he seems to have caught that syndrome of feeling "untouchable."

Interestingly enough, Comments From The Left Field's Kyle E. Moore gets it exactly right by putting the whole sordid episode in the correct frame:

We put them [politicians] on these incredibly high pedestals, pedestals so lofty no human should be rightfully put upon them, and then we heap money and power upon them and then dare them to stay on the straight and narrow.

We are, in truth, begging to be disappointed.

Dr. Daniel Amen, director of the Amen Clinics, sums up the puzzle and confusion over Spitzer's tragically self-destructive behavior, i.e., it just doesn't make sense, and he affirms CFLF's conclusion that this type of "fall" is all too human and common:

As you may have heard in today’s news, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, has apologized after allegations surfaced that he paid thousands of dollars to a prostitution ring. At a news conference today, Spitzer told reporters… I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family. I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself, I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.

One might wonder why someone with so much to lose would risk such hurtful and harmful behavior. As the Governor and former states attorney general, Spitzer has enjoyed a reputation as a crusader against misconduct and corruption. He has a wife and three teen daughters. It just doesn't make sense.

Unfortunately, his is not an isolated case – we’ll explore that in greater detail on tomorrow’s Good Morning America broadcast. Think of the recent Lisa Nowak case, where the former astronaut drove cross country in a mad dash to resolve the hurt of a lost love. Members of Congress, Presidents, powerful corporate heads and popular athletes have all thrown away portions of their lives and families for seemingly unimportant reasons. (Dr. Amen's Brain Blog Newsletter).

We are begging to be disappointed because, esp. on the Left, there is a denial of basic human nature. As Steven Pinker lays out in The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, liberals and left intellectuals implicitly have denied the existence of human nature by embracing three linked dogmas: The Blank Slate (the mind has no innate traits), The Noble Savage (people are born good and corrupted by society), and The Ghost in the Machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology). As Pinker states, these dogmas have justified the liberals and the Left's passion to reshape, and make better, humanity, e.g., the most extreme expressions of the Left, Nazism and Marxism shared a desire to reshape humanity (p. 157). The religious right also stands accused of placing dogma over human nature.

This is precisely why libertarians place "principles" above "liberal values," placing the goal of limiting government power over Obama Econometrics. David Boaz, in his recent book, The Politics of Freedom: Taking on The Left, The Right and Threats to Our Liberties, clearly lays out the attack on the separation of powers and limited government by the both the Left (hard and soft liberals) and the Right (i.e., the religious right, the necons). In defending the separation of powers established by the Constitution, Libertarians go back to James Madison who clearly tied the arrangement of the separation of powers to the goal of limiting government power

It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next instance oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. (Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers. Signet Classics.)

What is needed for the survival of limited government is a renewal of both of the forces described by Madison as controls on government: dependence on the people, in the form of an informed citizenry jealous of its rights and ever vigilant against unconstitutional or otherwise unwarranted exercises of power, and officeholders who take seriously their oaths of office and accept the responsibilities they entail. (Cato Handbook For Congress. Policy Recommendations For The 108th Congress)