The American Spectator : Troubling State of Affairs

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Troubling State of Affairs

By Jay D. Homnick on 6.26.09 @ 6:06AM

The outer limits of wayward Republicanism.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Camp of Minneapolis-Saint Paul has made himself a wonderful career as a novelist under the pseudonym John Sandford. His best-selling Prey series features Minneapolis supercop Lucas Davenport. In one recent volume a character asks Davenport: "Why is it that Democrats are always having money scandals and Republicans are always caught in sex scandals?"

Lucas replies: "My theory is that Democrats are guys who know how to get girls but not how to make money. Republicans are guys who know how to make money but not how to get girls. When they each encounter both readily available in politics, they fall for the one they're not used to."

Within the space of a few days, two of the most powerful Republicans in the country, Senator Ensign of Nevada and Governor Sanford of South Carolina have confessed to extramarital affairs and resigned their honorary positions, although both still cling to their elected seats. They join names like Craig, Foley, Gingrich, Vitter, Livingston, Cunningham and Hyde as Republicans caught with their… er, guards down in recent years.

It is not my place to moralize on the subject of adultery, but I do feel entitled to moralize about adulthood. This country is engaged in an epic battle between two starkly opposed ideologies. There is a group committed to the principle that individual lives should be subjugated to the collective will as expressed by government. It shifts tactics for convenience, sometimes saying the people will choose poorly, sometimes saying they will choose selfishly. Propelled by the hurtling momentum of an economic downturn, this cadre is within an ace of sweeping to a devastating victory.

All that stands between us and tyranny -- quasi-beneficent tyranny, to be sure -- is a shrunken group of Republicans in Congress. To stop the deluge they must stand tall and unblinking. We ask them to press our suit, and what do we get? The Emperor has no pants.

As absurd as it may seem, we may find that the future of this country was bankrupted -- by cap and trade, by government health care, by trillions in phony stimuli -- because of a few idiot Republicans who were too busy in motel lobbies to worry about the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies. They were too busy writing e-mails to females to notice the bills and the billions.

Voters see this behavior as hypocritical because Republicans have taken some stands on issues defining sexuality in the culture. That charge never bothers me; falling short of an ideal does not disqualify the effort. When a person tries to be good but is tripped up by unwieldy appetites, that is not a comedy but a tragedy. It should be a darn-it moment, not a gotcha moment. Yet when one is a member of a depleted nucleus fighting to preserve our way of life, there should be sufficient intelligence and responsibility not to forsake the alliance for a dalliance.

It is true that power can corrupt. It can certainly dangle enough carrots. Abraham told Abimelech that without a sense of morality, enlightened self-interest would not be enough to keep a man from sinning or from taking another man's due. On an ultimate level that is true, and to expect rulers-for-life not to assemble harems is probably unrealistic. But for a four- or six-year term you would think a man of intelligence could focus enough willpower on his very limited spare time to avoid spending his political capital on things of the moment, things of no moment.

Enough carping about the past. It is now June 2009, with the Congressional elections clocking in next in November 2010. That gives conservatives, Republican or otherwise, seventeen months to regroup. Can we issue a call for all such men and women to get their affairs in order, so to speak? Can we postpone the earth-shattering romances, the two hearts bleeding as one, the eyes meeting across the room and the sappy sophomoric love notes until after leaving office? Be Malcolm Forbes in your old age, wear leather, drive a motorcycle, humiliate your children, live it up. Just not on our time, please.

For a while the buzzword was making government smarter. It was intended to suggest wiser spending and management. For now we will accept some basic street smarts. Keep your eye on Byrd's trillions flying out the window and your ear off the trilling of little birdies flying by. There is a term for the behavior of these Republican politicians, but I will refrain from using it here because I, for one, have term limits.

topics:
Republican Party, Corruption, Collectivism

About the Author

Jay D. Homnick, commentator and humorist, is a frequent contributor to The American Spectator. He also writes for Human Events. Here he performs his original composition, "Buy You (Bayou) a Drink".

Letter to the Editor View all comments (15) | Leave a comment

Michael L. Hauschild| 6.26.09 @ 8:51AM

After much reflection and having worked in numerous campaigns I have come to the conclusion that in order to change (or avoid) the behaviour exhibited by most of our elected representatives simply elect the ugliest of the candidates available.

GranTorino| 6.26.09 @ 9:13AM

In other words: keep your powder dry and your trousers buttoned.

To ML Hauschild: ugly doesn't stop the bimbos from piling onto what they see as Big Chances for Big Bucks (if nowhere else then in a torrid kiss-n-tell). You need to spend some time in the South of France, especially at Cannes Film Festival, but St Tropez June to August should open eyes: unbelievable totty on the arms of what could pass for an exhibit in the British Museum Ancient Egypt halls.

GranTorino| 6.26.09 @ 9:31AM

(My earlier comment went astray: if it reappears, apologies for the repetition)

In short: keep your powder dry and your trousers buttoned.

To Michael: ugliness, as long as firmly attached to megabucks, has no impact on bimbos looking for a leg up (if you don't mind what that conjures in the mind's eye). You should check out the south of France in season: mind-boggling totty on the arms of what would otherwise be considered exhibits in the British Museum's Egyptian Hall. Money and power speak.

Melvin| 6.26.09 @ 9:38AM

The solution is really simple if we have the guts to implement it. Stop treating politicians like rock stars or pseudo gods and start treating them like public servants.
The more you stroke someone the more their ego will eventually consume them.

JMM| 6.26.09 @ 10:09AM

I dare say that most men secretly envy Gov. Sanford. What man with a wife, kids, and a high pressure job has not dreamed of jetting to an exatic locale to spend a week with a paramour?
His stupidity lies not in his cupidity but his inability to pull off such a simple caper without getting caught. That alone disqualifies him from high (Conservative) political office.
Hell, if he were a democrat such behavior would elevate him in the pantheon of presidential contenders.

Michael Tomlinson| 6.26.09 @ 10:22AM

Having been an observer of American politics since I was a boy I've found money and sex scandals to be non-partisan with the Democrats having an edge in both if you include homosexuals running whore houses out of their homes or actually sexually abusing minors who work for them.

Still I think the author makes a critical point the country is now in a fight against soft despotism that will eventually will lead to unadulterated tyranny so it is incumbent upon Republicans to get their heads in the game and keep their private lives and parts respectable.

The Democrat culture of corruption is in full swing from ACORN to Feinstein we just have to play our cards right and we can kill the beast in 2010 and 2012. Shape up or ship out.

Pittsburgh Pete| 6.26.09 @ 10:23AM

The problem, of course, is that we are required to elect human beings to political office. Is the percentage of infidelity in office-holders different than that in the average man?
Its yet another testament to the brilliance of our Founders in trying to create limited government.

Pat| 6.26.09 @ 12:26PM

Many Americans yearn for men and women with strong Calvinistic virtues who would run for political office. Real World Reality Check - Fat chance that's going to happen. Politicians of fierce rectitude, devoted to their families, unimpressed with the power of political office, humble, frugal when spending the public treasury and much more - all the desirable attributes of a perfect candidate to hold political office.

But why would a person with such sterling virtues want to represent Americans? Look at who they'd be representing in the harsh light of day - don't we get exactly the candidates we deserve? Since the sexual revolution began, we've encouraged so called healthy sex - starting in grade school, "it's natural" we're told - and we're ruthless enough as a people to live with the consequences as testified to by 50 million abortions.

So why the cluck-clucking over the scandals, sexual and otherwise, of politicians with only the most recent being Sanford - they're men and women of the people - as frequently proven by their actions. Do we want people who are "better than us" in office? Why?

Maybe we'd better settle for folks who won't steal too much while holding public office and are content with just one lover outside marriage or a same sex politician who has the iron willpower to leave minors alone. It's very hard to effectively argue we deserve better.

bobmontgomery| 6.26.09 @ 5:54PM

The thinkers, the think tanks, the musers and the amused, the intellectuals, the Grands, the foundations, the non-profits - have done the country absolutely zip. The straight-talkers, the traditionalists - those that the hoity-toits and the appeasers don't want in the party, HAVE BEEN REPEATEDLY AND CONSISTENTLY CORRECT IN THEIR ASSUMPTIONS AND THEIR ASSERTIONS. WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE TO ADMIT THAT WHEN THE BARACK OBAMA'S OF THE WORLD SPEND VALUABLE TIME BASHING THE SEAN HANNITYS AND THE RUSH LIMBAUGHS IT IS NOT BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE OTHER THINGS THEY WOULD RATHER BE DOING.

scola| 6.26.09 @ 6:36PM

Yes ,as mark said we dont even know if the votes equity for spectors.

Alan Brooks| 6.28.09 @ 4:12PM

none of them is as bad as LBJ.

He would push a secretary into bed with him in a hotel and say "this is YORE president".

thankfully, Obama isn't like that; another reason I think he'll be reelected.

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