Research Paper on Ramifications of Political Scandals

Introduction

Over the past decades, the political support of citizens in the Western democracies has declined. The major cause of this decline is the increased negative attitudes towards the politicians, political parties, as well as a democracy that emanates from a significant increase in the political scandals. Concisely, political scandals unfavorably affect the political system. After exposure to scandals, the support that citizens give to political parties and politicians always tend to be eroded. These scandals are offensive as an individual who possesses a public position would violate a constitutional order like norms, which regulate the use of political power. This paper will provide an in-depth view of the ramifications of scandals that involve politicians.

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Body

When the political trust of citizens declines, the functioning of democratic systems would be affected negatively. Most of the scandals are publicized in the media. Some of the prominent cases concern Hillary Clinton, Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Christian Wulff of Germany. Recently, there have also been allegations of scandals against Donald Trump. These scandals have serious effects on the reputation of politicians and political candidates, damage political support, as well as negatively affect the satisfaction of citizens with the representatives. The scandals may involve more or less misconducts from the political sphere that include abuse of power, corrupt acts, and bad decision-making process (McDermott et al. 953). However, some of the political norm transgressions are not scandalized. Ideally, the intensity of media to report about scandalous political acts is vital. Due to repeated media coverage, it would be easy to establish any new cases of misconducts by the politicians and political representatives governing a particular system. The intensity of such coverage varies depending on the type of case.

From the current events in the political field, it is evident that scandals are a feature that recurs in the political field within different democracies. For instance, the British voters in the past have identified a range of scandals, which tread drugs, money, and sex. Additionally, the scandals of corruption have been experienced in Italy and France. Corrupt politicians continue to get into electoral careers. An example of such politicians is Paulo Maluf of Brazil (Chatman 305). The politician has been on the list of the most wanted persons by Interpol since 2011 for his corrupt act of embezzlement of public funds, as well as the laundering of millions of dollars. Notwithstanding various convictions, Maluf received the highest number of votes when he vied for the federal deputy position and is still in power. He has survived the ballot and the courts.

Conversely, the views of citizens and voters may moderate some political evaluations. In essence, the partisanship of an individual would play an essential role when evaluating the politicians involved in different scandals. When some parties tolerate political misconducts, they will shape the opinions of voters. The knowledgeable voters always consider partisanship before they can vote. As such, these voters consider how the politicians they elect to represent them in different positions will help in meeting their needs and those of the public. In situations where most of the politicians are involved in scandalous acts, they tend not to serve the interests of those who voted for them but rather their interests. The spillover effects of political scandals are grounded in the manner in which individuals understand the interconnections between institutions and politicians (Chatman 308). There will be a threat to political trust if the dispositional political trust is low among the public. The moral actions and value threat predict endorsement of the retributive action in the political sphere.

Usually, political scandals destabilize the status quo of politicians. As such, the scandals receive attention from various scholars in different fields. The increased cases of political scandals threaten the democracy in systems of governance. In essence, these promote a significant decline in political trust among individuals. With the existence of the media, most of the scandals are publicized. These involve the misuse or abuse of the position an individual hold. Corrupt acts make the officials elected for public positions to use their power inappropriately. There would be the need to establish the consequences brought forth by the political scandals (Carlson, Matthew and Steven 55).

The misconduct acts of public elected officials mostly affect the public that the representatives were elected to serve. An example of the scandals that have affected the public is the Watergate or the misappropriation of funds by Alan Hevesi. After the reign of Richard Nixon as the President in 1974, an editorial chiding was published courtesy of the Federal Times. The House of Representatives was to impeach him, but Nixon avoided that by resigning. There was a range of corrupt issues that happened during his tenure as the President. They involved the crass and unlawful invasion of the rights of individuals (Carlson, Matthew and Steven 61). The Watergate office wanted to sabotage the political rivals. The examples of this scandal are the Iran-gate of Ronald Reagan, Monica-gate of Bill Clinton, as well as the bridge-gate of Chris Christie. These scandals redefined the relationship between the government and the media.

The Watergate has caused distrust of citizens on the government thereby causing a substantial change in the political calculus. It continues reverberating even in the contemporary world throughout the spectrum of politics. Most of the affected individuals by the scandal are the Democrats. This is so since the Democrats tend to favor a role for government in the national issues thereby requiring the need to overcome distrust. An aspect that the scandal affects is the Affordable Care Act, which consequently affects the public. The individuals who oppose the government are not capable of acquiring affordable health care since they are not involved in the government processes when the politicians are scandalous. In essence, such politicians choose a particular group who they meet their interests while leaving others lagging behind (McCarthy 22).

Some citizens end up languishing in poverty, yet they have leaders who should provide them with the essential services they might require. Another scandal that influenced the opinions of the public is the extramarital affair of Bill Clinton. The scandal caused his impeachment even though the allegations of Trump regarding the issue seem to be immune. The double standard concerning the impunity of personal behaviors of politicians would affect the citizens (McCarthy 28). The voters tend to perceive the politicians who fall in this category differently. For instance, since the scandal of Clinton, there has been a significant increase in political tribalism, which discourages party defection.

Precisely, personal behaviors matter in the political field in the sense that those in public offices cannot guide the citizens on the best practices in the society. Due to the scandal of Clinton, the attitudes of individuals regarding equality have moved. As such, a movement has been put in place to fight sexual harassment. Consequently, the U.S Congress passed legislation for reforming the manner in which sexual misconduct can be dealt with in the society. The scandal affected the presidential election conducted in the United States in 2000. It has deflated the party base enthusiasm thereby reducing the number of citizens who would turn out to elect their political representatives. Considerately, a crucial scandal that happened and has significant effects on the public is that of Mark Foley. He sent e-mails and suggestive messages to the teenaged boys. The group formed the congressional pages. In 2006, Foley resigned from the Congress due to the scandal (McCarthy 36).

Consequently, the Republican Party could not control the Congress in the election within that year. Sending of suggestive messages to high-school boys depicts an outrageous behavior. In this manner, individuals may not understand the moral norms promoted within the society. The messages may misguide teenagers and make them engage in unsafe behaviors like inappropriate sexual activities, which would put their lives at risk. Foley shared content of sexually explicit messages with the House pages. Moreover, the scandal of Eliot Spitzer involved patronizing an escort service that the Emperors Club run. The scandal caused criticisms from the media due to its publicization hence leading to the resignation of Spitzer as a Governor. He had various liaisons with different prostitutes during which Spitzer was under the surveillance of Federal agents. The scandalous Governor used to pay the prostitutes and cater for their train tickets, travel times, as well as cab fare (www.huffingtonpost.com/jess-carbino/top-10-political-sex-scandals_b_5115331.html).

Through his acts, it is evident that Spitzer acted in ways violating the obligation of his family and his sense of doing the right or wrong thing. He had promised the public to do better but could not accomplish his aspirations. In most cases, the individuals with prostitution cases are not charged by the federal prosecutors, which are considered to be state crimes. However, the Mann Act that Congress passed was aimed at addressing prostitution and human trafficking. This leads to a crime when individuals are transported to different states for prostitution purposes. Spitzer had a range of legislative setbacks that have affected his supporters and the public in entirety. Ideally, due to the expanded coverage of political issues by the media, the public does not miss any political scandal.

When the scandals are serious such that the media covers them, the voters punish them by not voting for such politicians. However, the donors do not make any attempt to rescue the scandalous acts from happening. Within the less-localized political environment, the punishment of politicians who are scandal-tainted seems less straightforward as the voters may think that the punishment would reduce the chances of a party to hold the congressional majority. In some cases, the voters would put their partisan concerns over attitudes or feelings regarding the conduct of politicians. Most of the scandals are taken to courts by the perpetrators go uncharged due to the political positions they hold and the power they have in the society. They violate informal norms, but the courts and other criminal institutions do not charge them. In situations where politicians comply with the social norms regarding how they should behave, there is the need to encourage political trust. Disgraced politicians do not always get the most appropriate consequences for the acts they engage in. An example is that of Spitzer who was not charged even though conspiracy charges were filed against four people who were accused of running a prostitution ring. The four defendants were charged for violation of the Federal Man Act (Hamel, Brian and Michael 33).

Conclusion

Political scandals have adverse consequences on the public. Most of the corrupt politicians and those who engage in scandalous acts do not serve the interests of voters but rather their families or own needs. When political representatives write bad checks, the voters would have known the scandals thereby disapproving of their representative. Eventually, this will lower their regard for Congress. The perceptions of political scandals are essential as people are mindful of the media coverage concerning the scandals. The trends of public opinion in most democracies show a significant decline of trust in their po...