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Why The Sanford Affair Matters |
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Surprise. Surprise. Another prominent politician has been caught with his pants down. The “made-for-tabloid” political drama surrounding Mark Sanford and his Argentinian lover has reignited a debate over whether such indiscretions should even be subject to public scrutiny. Many claim that who an elected official chooses to sleep with has no bearing whatsoever on their ability to perform the duties of office.
I disagree.
A marriage does not exist in a vacuum. Setting aside all sexist and homophobic interpretations of the meaning of marriage, it is nonetheless a union that has far greater significance than the love shared between a couple. Marriage is a lot more than just saying, “I’m only going to have sex with one person.”
Marriage is a commitment to build a life together, a life that is inextricably bound up in larger commitments: to family and friends, to business and professional interests, to community and faith organizations, and to society as a whole. To violate the marriage contract, in many ways, is to violate all of these commitments. As Sanford tearfully pointed out in his press conference, an affair hurts not only the spouse and the family, but it tears at the fabric of all of these larger connections.
When a prominent elected official is caught cheating, the damage is even greater than it is for the average person. The commitments that are being violated extend to the public trust, to the faith that we have (or at least would like to have) that our leaders are honest and dependable people who exemplify what is good and right. They should be held to a higher standard, because they hold incredible power and influence - and if they are being dishonest and immoral in one area of their lives, isn’t that a pretty good indication that they are doing similar things in all areas?
A commentator on one of the cable news networks pointed out the fact that with all of these sex scandals, our politicians are merely reflecting society as a whole. That may be true, but there are plenty of people out there who are decent enough not to cheat on their spouses and not to spin a web of lies and deception in an effort to cover their sins. I, for one, believe that our nation’s leaders should exclusively come from this group of people.
So let’s not gloss over our politicians’ marital indiscretions as if they don’t matter. Instead, let’s see them for what they are: Red flags that help show us who doesn’t belong in power.
I think he was on http://www.dirtyspouses.com along with others.
Your little essay is guilty of assuming certain premises without justifying them, of assuming facts not in evidence.
The question I put to you is about whether human kind is really monogamous and whether we ought to FORCE it to be.
Yes, obeying a contract is important, and Sanford almost assuredly signed on to the marriage contract of “remaining faithful.”
I, for one, thinks it is about time that we all sit down and think about this contract and the re-wording of it. There are plenty of social psychologists and cultural anthropologists who would stand behind my contention that humankind is not structurally or functionally formed to having sex for a lifetime with ONLY one person.
And I am all the more so especially convinced of this when I see that the most vociferous proponets or MONOGAMOUS marriage are:
1) the fundamentalists of any of the religions of children of Abraham—Christians, Jews, and Muslims—who, being fundamentalists, are a motley collection of individuals whose usually common characteristic is that they are uneducated and vulgar (unsophisticated)
2. the leaders of groupings of organized religion: from Islamic hojas to Roman Catholic priests…you know, the ones with same-sex pedophilic predilections (need I go further?)
Oh, yes, I understand that females of Homo sapiens are most likely to demand monogamy from their pairing-off, but I think when given the benefits of a semi-polygamous arrangement as men partake without consent or approval, they too will fall in line as proponents of my idea that we debate the value of whether we should be steadfastly monogamous or rather practice only with respect to childbearing.
And no! Before you insist that my contribution here is far afield or off-topic, I will tell you that if we practiced a form of monogamy that I propose, Gov Sanford’s activities would NOT be news, he would have his weekend fun with the Argentinian hottie, and his wife and kids would shrug it off as normal and natural.
Oh%u2014the sanctimonious Democrats. Do Democrats believe in sex? (Wish they didn%u2019t so there would be a lot less of them). Well, let%u2019s start with some current icons:
Barney Frank%u2014Nailed for running a male House of Prostitution in his D.C. townhouse, arguably the father of the sub-prime mortgage fiasco with his male lover and high ranking official in Fannie May. Just a fine outstanding example of Democrat ethics or lack there of.
Bill Clinton%u2014Have you forgotten him? The one who clearly broke every law of sexual infidelity and sexual harassment, both concepts of Democrat platforms. However, once again you threw ethics aside and vigorously defended a serial rapist.
John Edwards- A piece of scum you were running for President that not only made his millions screwing the poor in mortgage foreclosures but screwed his help in violation of sexual harassment laws and his poor sick wife%u2014Yet you defended him.
Ted Kennedy- A drunk, that sanctions and abets rape by his relatives, and murders his lovers by letting them drown to cover up his fling%u2014And you call him the Lion of the Senate
Oh and last but not by far the only one%u2014John F Kennedy, an admitted illegal drug user (speed) while in the White House and a serial sex monger.
Stay tuned for additional Democratic fraud, abuse and scandals that you blindly defend.
You assume that I’m a Democrat. And you know what happens when you make an assumption…
No Jim, I didn’t. In fact I think you wrote the truth and the best I’ve read re the subject. Your political party affiliation has no bearing on the validity of your blog– Truth is truth. What I am trying to point out is the absoulte hyprocaracy of the people blogging in the Seminal in general casting stones. They refuse to believe that all politicians are screwing us– and not just the Republicans.