"Public
virtue cannot exist in a nation without private [virtue], and public virtue is
the only foundation of republics." -John Adams
There is no surer indicator that the culture is headed down
the toilet than the case of Mark Sanford, former governor of South
Carolina. As a reminder, when Governor, Sanford
suddenly disappeared, not even telling is staff where he was, to run off to
South America to be with his “soul mate”.
The only problem was that Sanford was married at the time.
Now he is trying to resurrect his political career in
running for the House seat vacated by Tim Scott in South Carolina”s District
1. Here is where the cultural malaise
kicks in: amazingly, Sanford won his
primary and now is in the midst of a tight race with his Democratic opponent.
Think about it. Here
is an individual who violated the most sacred vow that a man can make, his
wedding vows, and no one seems to care.
What makes voters think that if Sanford had no problem in rationalizing
his lack of integrity in his marriage that he would have a problem with
violating his oath to uphold the Constitution?
Now along comes an organization that really illustrates how
sick the culture has become. An outfit
called AshleyMadison.com has made Sanford their poster boy. It founder Noel Biderman is quoted as saying
that, “He represents what we have been articulating for the past decade, which
is, what happens in someone’s personal life, that’s their personal choice—it
doesn’t mean that they’re not able to govern….”
This seems to be the conventional wisdom in a culture that
doesn’t believe in moral absolutes: that one can separate public and private
virtue. But truth is born out in
reality, and experience shows that any politician who routinely indulges in
immoral practices in his private life, very quickly betrays the office he has
sworn to uphold. Examples abound, Newt
Gingrich, John Edwards, Anthony Weiner, but the most famous is Bill Clinton,
who had no core ethics, but would go wherever the political winds blew.
In his book the, “The Meaning of Marriage”, pastor Tim
Keller quotes Sara Lipton of the New York Times: “For most of Western history, the primary and
most valued characteristic of manhood was self mastery……A man who indulged in
excessive eating, drinking, sleeping or sex—who failed to “rule himself”—was
considered unfit to rule his household, much less a polity.” My how times have changed.
We are a society that derisively dismisses Biblical ethics
and find it strange that politicians sell us out at every turn.
