A quote from DogGone - from Theoretikos, by Oscar Wilde:
"THIS mighty empire hath but feet of clay: Of all its ancient chivalry and might Our little island is forsaken quite"
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford admitted to an affair yesterday. This is the same Governor who had condemned, time and again, actions by those who didn't value the family, those who didn't value the sanctity of marriage. He was an unrelenting, virulent voice against Bill Clinton, calling repeatedly for his impeachment or resignation.
He was caught, he didn't admit to it willingly, by reporters as he walked off his plane from Buenos Aires.
He had four visits to Buenos Aires paid for by the tax payers. He betrayed many, including his wife, who funded his campaigns in part, she was his campaign manager, she had four children with him.
He lied to his staff, he lied to his friends about his conduct, including his closest friends. He disappeared for nearly a week when he had responsibilities in his state.
There is nothing to be proud of about having an affair, yet, there is nothing that requires his political career to be over because of an affair, yet there is everything which ought to end his political career if he is to be consistent with the unforgiving, unyielding, and completely without understanding attitude HE had, and his party has, about everyone elses indiscretions.
This Grand Old Party, most especially the 'social conservatives' within it, condemn those who have abortions as sluts, say God kills Americans as retribution for the conduct of gays, and have no forgiveness for anyone who is in any other party, yet they of course frequently fail to be 'perfect' as well. In fact, if anything, they live less well harnessed by the unreal 'girdle' of pefection than many others. The reality is that their leaders, time and again, are found to have been cheating on their wives (Gingrich, Ensign, Livingston, Sanford, etc..), or to secretly be homosexual (which is no sin, nor is there anything wrong with it) - such as Mark Craig, Tom Haggerty or Mark Foley. It also has had it's chief spokesman (Rush Limbaugh) become a drug addict, a likely criminal (by getting his maid to 'shop' for his drugs), and had him travel to the Caribbean, where prostitution is legal, to go on a 'sex vacation.'
This party demands purity, which is of course unattainable, and so they wind up putting up charades as leaders. No one can live to ideals of never being tempted, and while they undoubtedly would say "of course we know people are tempted, people are human", they won't and don't actually apply that idea of grace to anyone who is a political opponent. Feet of clay are fatal to them if you aren't in the GOP, and mostly even if you are (of course not always as Gingrich and George Bush clearly show).
In short, they demand their leaders live up to a standard which is nearly impossible, and worse. demand that same lie from everone else. They beat their chests at their 'purity', they scream their righteousness from the rooftops, and condemn anyone who disagrees as not worthy of concern because they are dirty, mongrels, scum, and worse. They demand a lie from their leaders and force that same lie upon society.
Ohhh - of course; Party of Clay, as in 'feet of clay'.
ReplyDeleteDarn those American history teachers of mine! When I saw the title "A Party of Clay", I thought it was a play on the word Clay, referring to HENRY Clay...the famous southern political figure from our early national history.
What similarities made me think of the play on words?
Clay was prominent in the early 1800s, the equivalent period of his century to ours. He was a Whig, part of a disappearing party, that later re-emerged as the new Republican party - certainly we are looking at a similar possible demise and rebirth of the GOP. If the current few remaining 'base' ever let go of the failed positions, to make way for something new.
Clay was consistently on the side of big business and monopolies, not unlike the usual position of Sanford and the GOP. Clay promoted the idea of his state government representatives wearing homespun instead of broadcloth, not unlike the re-christening of french fries as liberty fries. Clay was anti-national banking...until it became expedient for him to change his position. Henry Clay, like Sanford, used politics to advance his personal ambitions, including ambitions to be president. And of course, there was the connection to the famous Nullification Crisis, with South Carolina trying to nullify a piece of federal legislation that they did not like - not unlike Sanford and the Stimulus money.
Clay was described by a contemporary detractor as "this being, so brilliant yet so corrupt, which, like a rotten mackerel by moonlight, shined and stunk." Couldn't that as easily apply to Sanford? And Clay was the originator of the quote "I'd rather be right than be President!", claiming principle over ambition. Claiming being the operative word.
I think my favorite comment about Clay made by a contemporary, that also fits Sanford, was this one, that described how he came to his political positions: "by superficial research, half-knowledge and an unwillingness to reason a proposition to its logical results."
I was particularly struck by the similarity in appearance between Clay and Sanford; look at modern photos and some of the old portraits of Clay at a similar age.
Sanford is fairly to be faulted for his hypocrisy, but his conduct itself is hardly unique to either party. If Sanford is to be faulted, let him be faulted fairly, on ALL of the appropriate criteria that may apply. It would be a mistake to judge Sanford solely or even primarily on his adultery or hypocrisy, but the attention his extra-marital conduct is receiving distracts from that larger picture.
I am choosing to avoid the media frenzy over this peccadillo, not because I am a fan of Sanford. I am not. Sanford is a victim of his own misconduct; his family are victims as well. There is enough pain and more there, without adding to it by so very much public titillation and humiliation of the parties involved. I choose to mute the sound on the news during further segments, to skip reading the news articles and the photos. I have learned enough of the facts already, there is no benefit to additional detail. Further participation in exploiting someone else's misery,in sensationalizing it, self-inflicted or not, on the flimsy pretext that they are a public figure is not something to which I want to be a party.
DG -
ReplyDeletePlease understand I agree entirely that the issue is NOT the affair itself, or even Sanford's specific hypocrisy, but rather, the unyielding, unforgiving sanctimony of the GOP. A position so brittle, so virulent that it allows for no humanity, and is in itself, the defining issue of the GOP, namely, that they cannot reasonably, fairly do as they say- no one could, yet they demand it ceaselessly of others. They condemn and judge, without remorse or restraint or compassion, because it suits their need to be dismissive of the needs of others, to feel superior to others, when in fact they show themselves inferior to no one, and because of the hypocrisy, perhaps even show themselves to be less than those with the humanity not to judge so harshly, but rather to love and to forgive truly.
By the way, I love the association to Clay - I capitalized it for no reason other than it was a title, but you improved upon my point dramatically.
Sorry, that should say "they show themselves superior to no one."
ReplyDeleteHooray for "family values" conservative politicians like Sandford, Vitter, et al.
ReplyDeleteThey keep childish, unbelievably blatant superficiality entertaining for those of us who tend to live less disingenuous lives (and who therefore don't feel the need to lecture everyone to "do as we say, not as we do" in voices filled with pseudo-gravitas).
A picture is worth a thousand words; enjoy the following 2k worth...they are a bit of fun:
ReplyDelete1824 Henry Clay portrait
www.authentichistory.com/antebellum/manifest/1824_Henry Clay_Portrait.
and
photos of Gov. Mark Sanford
www.daylife.com/photo/03Ff7Qw7D90gy?q+Mark+Sanford
Seriously - from certain angles, there is at least as much similiarity as between humpty dumpty and rush....