Sweet, delicious irony: Republican opponent who accused Ilhan Omar of being a criminal charged with felony theft.

[Gandalf]

How's this:

If a person has a trait/condition/past/whatever that is "compromising" should they reveal it before running for public office, Y/N?

Is that the question being asked? That's my understanding of it.

If so, YES, THEY SHOULD - because if it's found out later the consequences will be worse than if they were upfront about it. And these days it's a lot harder to keep shit hidden.

Does that mean some people will not be able to be elected? Unfortunately yes. I have no idea how to go about fixing that in a short term. Long-term, you have to change societal attitudes. That is possible, but difficult and not guaranteed. On the other hand, it may turn out not to be the obstacle they originally thought it would be. No one knows until it is tried.

Yeah, I can't get behind that, as it effectively locks social undesireables out of certain aspects of public life.

[Dominus Atheos]

No one has an absolute right to be elected to represent a large group of people. On the other hand, the people being represented probably have the right to know everything that could affect that person's ability to effectively represent that group, and also probably anything that may make that group choose not to elect that person.

Democracy is a shit sandwich, news at 11.

[madd0ct0r]

How's this:

If a person has a trait/condition/past/whatever that is "compromising" should they reveal it before running for public office, Y/N?

Is that the question being asked? That's my understanding of it.

If so, YES, THEY SHOULD - because if it's found out later the consequences will be worse than if they were upfront about it. And these days it's a lot harder to keep shit hidden.

Does that mean some people will not be able to be elected? Unfortunately yes. I have no idea how to go about fixing that in a short term. Long-term, you have to change societal attitudes. That is possible, but difficult and not guaranteed. On the other hand, it may turn out not to be the obstacle they originally thought it would be. No one knows until it is tried.

Yeah, I can't get behind that, as it effectively locks social undesireables out of certain aspects of public life.

It effectively allows society to enact its prejudices openly. We didnt have as many openly gay officials back in the day.

We did have plenty who were in the closet and being blackmailed over it, which is not a good solution either.