SC Gov. Sanford breaks the public trust
The ticker flashed its stark message across the bottom of the screen: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was missing.
Not again, I thought.
Two weeks ago, Nevada Senator John Ensign and Governor Sanford were the future of a Republican Party. Today, both have confessed betrayal to their families, their elected offices and their constituencies. Their actions have dealt a powerful blow to a party already scrambling to regain credibility with the American people and left young supporters like myself searching for answers.
Last week, Ensign, a leading proponent of limited government, traditional values and the second Amendment, revealed he had an affair with campaign staffer. Then, a few days ago, Sanford, a prototypical fiscal conservative and one of the few elected offices with the courage to directly challenge Obama, dropped out of sight, leaving more questions than answers in his wake.
Few but the governor himself knew his whereabouts the moment the story broke, but it didn’t matter. This staunch conservative’s presidential aspirations were gone. If Sanford were simply hiking in the Appalachians, as his staff tried to sell the media, he was guilty of dereliction of duty as defined under South Carolina’s constitution. But, the ramifications of Sanford’s actions extended beyond legality. By disappearing, the governor was illustrating an astonishing lack of judgment, unfitting of a responsible citizen, let alone a governor or commander in chief.
Sanford’s admission of infidelity a few days later hammered home the final nail in the political coffin. For a man who portrayed himself as a committed husband, father and devoted public servant, this was undoubtedly a heartbreaking ending. Lying to himself and his supporters, Sanford’s public persona shrouded the truth: in his heart he was a love-struck young man, willing to risk it all for a shot at his dream-girl mistress, and certainly incapable of leading the free world.
Since then, predictably, Democrats have been on the attack and Republicans on the defensive. That’s the nature of the political beast. Yet there is no disputing that Sanford and Ensign delivered a striking blow to Republican rebuilding efforts at the very moment America needs a reliable opposition party the most.
Therein lays the problem for the GOP moving forward. Many of us prematurely put our support behind Sanford and Ensign, and are paying the price for that faith. That’s why it’s up to us, the grassroots activists, to press forward. To make certain that these two deeply flawed men do not come to define the conservative movement or our party.
It won’t be easy. The greatest obstacle for every defender of morality lies within their heart. Just because a few politicians fail us, doesn’t mean the party turns its back on the cause. For it is better to try to hold ourselves to a higher standard, even if a few of us prove too weak, then to advocate no standards at all.
To regain credibility, we need to remember that at the end of the day we support ideals, not politicians. Individuals are prone to disappoint, principles are not.
We need to push for members of our party unable to uphold those values to either make amends or leave our party. Senator Ensign needs to take the time the time to fix his personal life. Governor Sanford, on the other hand, must resign. To abscond from the state on the taxpayers’ dime while our country is mired in the greatest financial calamity since the Great Depression, demonstrated a complete disregard for the well-being of South Carolina and the principles he espouses.
In a time of crisis, we need solutions, not distractions. The ball is your court, Governor.
Michael Lesczinski serves as Senior Press Coordinator for the New York State Assembly Republican Conference.
Compromise is the key to success in many facets of life, including politics. Yet, there are some areas of life where there is no room for compromise. Governor Sanford not only violated the sacred trust between his wife and himself, he abandoned his legal obligation to serve the State of South Carolina. I don’t condone Governor Sanford’s facetious extramarital affair, but it’s not my place to judge that activity. The bottom line is that Governor Sanford left South Carolina ungoverned, and he did so intentionally, maliciously and irresponsibly. I cannot support a candidate whom I cannot trust, and I no longer trust Governor Sanford. Furthermore, I do not believe that he is mentally capable of governing the State of South Carolina, but that is up to the people of South Carolina to decide. It really, really hurts to take this position, as left wing liberals will feed off this pathetic situation like maggots on decaying road kill. But I agree — Governor Sanford must resign — not to do so corrupts the very basis of conservative beliefs and values.
First, let me make it clear for the record, I don’t consider myself Republican; I only vote for them when they are the best option. Sadly, that is usually the case. Secondly, this is rhetorical, and not a direct response to Lesczinski.
Sanford. Honestly, I don’t care if he cheated on his wife. I don’t care that he flew down to Argentina for a romantic tryst. Argentina is a beautiful country, and so are Argentinian women. As for using taxpayer money to make his trip, I’m not a resident of South Carolina, so it’s not like I paid for it. Hell, it’s not even like I voted for the man. Furthermore, I am not sure that he did use taxpayer money. I admit that it shows a lot of bad judgment on his part, to go A.W.O.L. as a governor, but in the end, it’s not for me to tell him to resign. It’s for the people of South Carolina.
The same holds true for Senator Ensign. He’s Nevada’s problem. If Ted Kennedy has been in Congress for as long as he has after drunk-driving a girl into a lake to drown, I don’t see why all the fuss over Ensign and Sanford. The folk of Massachussets keep electing Kennedy. The folk of S.C. can re-elect Sanford. Plus, it wasn’t that long ago that a president committed perjury to cover up his oval office oral sexcapade. Most of the nation let him slide…
Look, politicians are slime. Almost all of them. What’s more, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Politicians have always been slime, but the degree to which those in Washington wield uninhibited power today is disgraceful. It could not happen if we did not allow it, but we did. We do.
The way to fix things is not by focusing on a new Republican presidential candidate nor by harranguing the Sanfords, Delays, and Ensigns of the country. The path toward a revitalized republic is through the local. We the people have given away so much local and state power to the federal government, that those who allegedly represent us at the highest levels are now just a freak show. They are too far away from us! If you really want to wipe the stains off the Constitution and make this a freer nation again, you have to start at home. Leave Sanford to South Carolina, and focus on your own locality. Demand representatives who fight to reclaim power at the local level, fight for it yourself. Keep the slime as close under your eye as you can.
Sanford at least had the right idea when it came to resisting the increase of federal at the expense of local power, because he felt (if not still feels) that it goes against our federalist roots. Now, his ideal is lost over a focus on adultery. If South Carolinians want him gone, they can force him out, but I’d caution my neighbors against losing focus on the virtues that they elected him for in the first place.
I think we need to stop looking for an individual to save the party and start looking at the power of the grassroots base.
Here is another example why the Blue Dog Democrats are so powerful in states like Arkansas because the Republican party is a joke. That is why a Trevor Drown a former Greent Beret decided to run for US Senate as an Independent in Arkansas. Shortly shortly after a cybergrass roots movement http://www.idaretomakeadifference.co, formed and they are seriously working on many issues.
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