The Last Straw

Governor Mark Sanford, one my personal heroes and the man I truly believed would one day be President of the United States, is now the straw that broke my political back.

It turns out that Governor Sanford was not hiking the Appalachian Trail to clear his head and gather his thoughts as first reported by the Governor and his staff. Governor Sanford was in fact visiting his mistress in Argentina.

I have praised Governor Sanford to everyone I know. Since this news broke and since I have been writing this post, my phone has not stopped ringing. My friends and family are calling to ask how in the world this could have happened. Sanford has been the man who has kept my faith in politics and belief that not all politicians are alike.

Maybe it's unfair of me to expect a politician to be as faithful to his wife and family as Winston Churchill was. Maybe it's unfair of me to expect more out of our leaders. Maybe it's unfair, but at this point, I don't really give a damn about fair.

I am simply sick and tired of the nonsense and flummery that clouds the lives and actions of so many of our elected leaders. I am sick and tired of cheating, stealing, and lying politicians. I am sick and tired of the hypocrisy. I am sick and tired of politicians touting Christian values on one hand and gallivanting around with Argentinian mistresses on the other.

Harry Truman used to talk about wanting to surround himself with one-armed economists. Well, I want to start electing one-armed leaders so I won't have to watch politicians say something on one hand and do the exact opposite on the other.

In the end, I am just sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I am more aware than most of the sinful nature of human beings. In the words of one of the most powerful hymns of all time, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found." Being found and discovering the salvation of Jesus Christ doesn't mean we walk away from the sinful nature of being human. However, it does mean that we fight sin with every ounce of our heart and soul. It does mean that we learn to hate and despise everything about sin.

When it comes to today's political leaders, even the ones who pronounce themselves as devoted followers of Christ, the battle against sin is being fought with kid gloves.

As the great Samuel Johnson once said in a letter to his good friend and fellow scholar Joseph Baretti, "Keep always in your mind, that, with due submission to Providence, a man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself."

No matter if you're a ten year child watching your favorite baseball player get busted for steroid use or a thirty-year-old commercial real estate broker watching one of your political heroes confess to an affair, being disappointed really stings.

I will pray for Governor Sanford and his family and will hope that this confession will rekindle his fight against the vices that so aggressively attack us all.