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If you have quite a history with promiscuity, illegal substance abuse, adultery, and secretly compulsively watching old reruns of The View, yet you are exceptionally knowledgeable of world history, economics, war strategies, all angels of politics, and even knew how to completely remove stains from interns' dresses without getting caught, would you still run for public office with every expectation of winning?

Hypothetically speaking, if you had a really very toxic but private personal history but was otherwise widely respected and fully qualified for public office, would you still run?

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Depends on the office. I was on the town board for awhile, but everyone there had a past at least as sordid as mine!

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I'm thinking... depending on my past, I might actually run FROM public office

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I have been asked many time to run for office, everything from State Representative to Federal Senator. I turned the request down every time, not because of my past (which is no worse than anyone in Congress currently), but because I don't want to leave my family for the hours I would have to put in running for, let alone doing the job if elected. There are a few here who know the issues going on with my family and I think they understand.

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Running for public office means being able to stand public scrutiny. If you can't, don't.

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Originally Posted by Farmer Up:
I have been asked many time to run for office, everything from State Representative to Federal Senator. I turned the request down every time, not because of my past (which is no worse than anyone in Congress currently), but because I don't want to leave my family for the hours I would have to put in running for, let alone doing the job if elected. There are a few here who know the issues going on with my family and I think they understand.

Even if I were politically inclined, this just isn't the life for me. I can only imagine the emotional and psychological toll this takes on some of these life-long politicians.

Many years ago I watched in and occasionally participated in Yahoo's African-American chat rooms. The racial dysfunction I witnessed there was exceptionally hostile at times. This was at a time when I did actually have a genuine interest in politics, so I also ventured out into Yahoo's Political chat rooms. But with as hostile as the racial dysfunction was in the AA Chat Rooms, it paled in comparison to the negativity and dysfunction I witnessed in the political areas.

Racism is an incredibly large and often times insidious monster, but I do believe that political dysfunction is far worse. I can understand people batting around their political thoughts and ideas in online social forums, but to submit one's life to this openly and professionally seems like spiritual suicide to me.