Subscribe to Breaking NewsRuby-Sachs: Governor Sanford and the Failure of Moral Politics
It’s satisfying to lambast a staunch social conservative for an extramarital affair on another continent. Govenor Sanford voted to impeach Bill Clinton, has been a solid opponent of gay marriage and often invokes the “word of God” to support his conservative policies. I understand, those emails were hilarious and the press conference was pathetic and those of us without full rights in the United States certainly want Sanford’s career to stay in the dumps.
But, all this hubub over an affair? As my parents would say, it’s just inappropriate sex.
The real failure in this sad story is a political platform based on a personal moral code.
Laws are put in place, ideally, to protect the most vulnerable members of society from those stronger than them. It’s why we have criminal law, tax law, family law, securities law, etc. A good law maker identifies a weak party and works to protect them, thus representing their constituents.
When law makers choose, instead, to identify a moral agenda, one that ignores the actual reality of people living in their district, and attempts to impose certain value systems based on that moral agenda, they target minorities and establish legal restrictions that fail to relate to problems voters face.
So, instead of working to find homes for children without parents, politicians like Governor Sanford oppose gay adoptions. Instead of ensuring that each taxpayer is given a credit for their dependants, Governor Sanford opposes the tax rights associated with gay marriage.
And like anyone who loses touch with reality, Sanford fell victim to his own fictions. His moral code bears no relation to the diverse country in which he lives. It turns out, his moral code bears little relation to his own life.
Moral politics ignore reality, they serve to ostracize and isolate vulnerable members of society and they are inevitably impossible to follow. Their separation from the messy human condition means that even the people imposing the morally based laws are sinners and transgressors.
We have a lot in common with Governor Sanford. We too have had to grapple with what we are taught is right and what we feel is honest and true. He’s just learning the lesson a little later in life. Perhaps his tragedy will teach others the folly of moral political policies and encourage law making that addresses the diverse populations facing difficult and myriad problems in the U.S. today.
You’re totally right on Issac. And let’s not forget in the sodomy rights case of Bowers vs. Hardwick 1986 that the U.S. Constition protects Heterosexual privacy in the bedroom but not homosexual privacy. This hypocrisy is even endorsed by the courts. Thank God at least this slap in the face was later overturned.
Well said.
i agree with this article and all the previous posts…
i too believe that at this point with most “Conservative Republicanazicons” is that “Morality” is not the issue but just to be able to oppress LGBT community…
the person can be murderer, adulterer, eat shell fish on sundays, wear cloth of mixed threads which they can all now forgive and overlook, but LERDY don’t give those homos any rights! LOL
wonder how many of them will be burning in that place called “hell” that they condemn everyone else to?
as much as i get pissed off, the truth being is that i am VERY HAPPY with me (my lil gay self) and you know what, that bothers them more than anything!!
This is a momentous occasion. I actually agree with Ruby-Sachs for once.
Isaac’s point that the conservative religious folk are bending over backwards trying to “forgive” Sanford is verified by looking at some religious blogs. The odious people at getreligion.org are full of compassion for him. In contrast, they blasted the NYTimes several months ago for presenting same-sex married couples as “normal” in a piece on Rosie O’Donnell’s cruise ship for glbtq families. They are full of compassion for heterosexual hypocrites as long as they are sufficiently anti-gay.
Personal “morals”, “ethics” and “indiscretions” are non-existent, non-issues, until someone else finds out what you did and doesn’t agree….
I don’t believe Sanford should resign because of his affair: I think he should resign because he lied about why he left his State without its Chief Executive. He never bothered to notify his Lt. Gov., nor any of his staff on how to contact him or to transfer power temporarily. That he was cheating on his wife is not relevant to his office. That he “walked away”, out of communication, out of the country, without notice or instructions is a serious lapse in judgment… Obviously his judgment is impaired and he will not willingly resign. If the legislature of South Carolina cares as much for the “rule of law” and the “public good”, they would do well to impeach and remove this embarrassment from their government so that the business of the people can be conducted appropriately. Tearful apologies and personal appeals aside, Sanford is exhibiting bad judgment all around. His personal issues and marital problems impair his ability to put the duties of his office first. He must be removed from office and given the opportunity to deal with his personal issues and marital problems in the privacy that he and his wife owe to their children.
Learning his lesson? Somehow I doubt it. He does not sound like someone who is sorry that he committed the indiscretions and thumbed his nose at his constituents at the same time. He sounds like someone who is sorry that he got caught.
Emma, I don’t think moral law is what you want to condemn.
Gandhi’s politics were moral.
Martin Luther King’s politics were moral.
In fact most good social policy is based on morals.
And for the nitpickers, “Moral” and “Ethical” are synonyms. Look it up:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral
On the other hand, let’s never confuse morality with religion, particularly religious dogma. Emma, I think this is more at what you’re after.
And of course, hypocritical politicians should just resign.
So much for the “guardians of morality.”
It comes from a desire to do right, more than it does from telling others how to live their lives.
all I have learned from sanfords little trip is that marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman and some chick in Argentina
Isaac is right on. The only lesson the religious right will learn from the Sanford escapade is to pick even more hypocrites in the future. They don’t care about marriage or even Biblical morality: if they did, they would not revere such people as Reagan, Gingrich, and Limbaugh, all of whom are divorced womanizers. What they do care about is using the government to penalize us. They hate us. It is very simple. All the Christian mumbo-jumbo is simply an attempt to “justify” they hatred and sanctimonious assumption of superiority.
Oh you totally had me till the end. Teach others? Really? Have you paid attention to American politics? This is a very well written paper, but ends on a note hopefull enough to make even the most stone-faced break out in hysterics. Much as I wish otherwise no one’s going to learn anything from this, least of all Gov. Sanford.
Let me hear an AMEN for Isaac — Testify it loudly — it is Exactly that hypocritical, artificial “weighting” of — “a mere hetero lapse of judgement” — vs: (thumbs on the scale)– “the Abomination” that they call us —- it galls BIG TIME —-
@Isaac–MAN that was well-said!
A great article and a stark contrast to the “this is not an issue” article Mr Withers chose to post. The only thing I would take issue with is the very last sentence:
“Perhaps his tragedy will teach others the folly of moral political policies and encourage law making that addresses the diverse populations facing difficult and myriad problems in the U.S. today.”
No. No it won’t. And I will tell you why.
These are people who believe they have a duty to impose their moral values on the world. These are people who believe that unless they force everyone around them to adopt their moral values, society will crumble, children will be raped and murdered in the streets, old women will mow down priests in their SUV’s, and the good Lord himself will take one almighty crap on the Earth and smother us all out of existence.
These are not rational people.
The people who attempt to impose moral laws are the same people who will forgive Mr Sanford his indiscretion. It doesn’t matter to them that the prohibition of adultery is one of the ten commandments. It doesn’t matter to them that homosexuality is not mentioned in the ten commandments. It doesn’t even matter to them that the ten commandments are the laws by which, according to the Bible, God said he wanted man to live by. For these people, adultery is something they can forgive even though it is a direct violation of their precious God’s law, while homosexuality is something obscene that can never be forgiven or accepted, even though that same God did not, apparently, see fit to expressly forbid it when he was telling man not to kill or covet oxen or the like.
I guarantee that if Governor Sanford had come out as gay there would be a mass of Christians outside his home within hours demanding his resignation. I guarantee that if Governor Sanford had been caught having an affair with a man he would be vilified in the press, condemned in Churches across the country and forced to resign. Instead he “merely” committed adultery, so everyone’s being quiet about it while they wait for it to blow over.
And as soon as it does they will continue with their moral crusade, and Governor Sanford will somehow convince himself that he has the moral authority to support legislation oppressing the gay community.
What a sick world we live in where the pious Christian Right feels it can pick and choose which of God’s laws its own people should follow whilst simultaneously picking some obscure passages out of the same book, the Bible, with which to condemn us. I don’t know what’s harder to stomach – not being treated equally by the government, or by the supposed moral voice of society. If their condemnation and scorn for Governor Sanford was even half as vicious as it is for the gay community, it might at least make their hatred a little more palatable. Instead we’re supposed to stomach both bigotry and hypocrisy.