Chris Emmanuel.

Chris Emanuel  is bowing out of Newmarket politics after three terms. He has written a piece on Facebook with his thoughts on politics and social media.

Chris is an affable young  man . I was interested in what he had to say particularly about social media.  He notes people say  negative  things on social media they might not say otherwise,

A moderator is not required to publish negative  comments. There is a question of judgement .

I think it's an advantage for politicians to know what people are thinking....good and bad. They should be  evaluating support  or opposition to the ideas  Chris talks about.

Not all have merit.  Not all are free of political intent.

Politics  have always been fraught with risk.  Kinda like log rolling. . If you  don't learn to keep your balance a regular plunge into  ice cold  river is inevitable.

That  experience is also useful.

Chris claims he is not leaving politics because of negativity. He is looking for a new challenge.

I think that's unlikely. Chris Emmanuel demonstrated a serious lack of judgement and social responsibility. He acknowledged his fault. He was remorseful.

He had to make a judgement about whether the community would be  willing  to overlook the fact he was in charge of a vehicle while rip-roaring drunk.

No-one  else is in a better position to judge . No-one shares the responsibility.

No  person can be blamed for reminding voters of a salient fact.

I think Chris made the right decision to leave politics.

But he loses points for judgement by complaining about negativity in politics and the social media.

Negativity in politics is a given. Some people are nice. Some are not. Some are nice most of the time but sometimes not. Others are nasty all of the time and never not.

Some don't stand up  too well to  functioning in a goldfish bowl. They can't handle criticism.

Some make decisions that cannot be overlooked and then there are consequences.

A politician worth his salt doesn't whine.