Republican Sinners

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I don't want to call it a trend, but in the last 10 days we've seen Senator John Ensign (Republican, Nevada) and Governor Mark Sanford (Republican) of South Carolina admit to having affairs. In each case the wronged spouse has publicly declared that she loves

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her husband and is standing by him. From a skeptic's perspective it is heartwarming to see what feet of clay these two politicians have. I don't know the particulars of Gov. Sanford's last campaign, but I am well aware of Sen. Ensign's moralizing and bible-thumping because he wore these values where everyone could see it. He was one of the first to demand President Clinton resign in the wake of the Lewinsky affair, and disdained Sen. Larry Craig for his tap-dance routine in an airport men's room. It's nice, then, to be able to hang a big H around his neck for hypocrisy.

Since we've heard about Republican values ad nauseum for the last two decades, it's instructive to see how hard it is for members of the party to live up to them. One common trait that does seem to show up time and again, though, is pietism (affectation of devotion), pharisaism (hypocritical observance of the letter of religious or moral law without regard for the spirit), sanctimoniousness (a show or expression of feelings or beliefs one does not actually hold or possess), and tartuffery (hypocrisy)!

This morning on our public radio station I listened as a number of Republican officials talked about how their party can come back. The issue under discussion was immigration, and a number of them were arguing that the Democrats had painted them as bigots who wanted to build a wall and throw them (read: Mexicans) over it. In truth, that was not what they were about, one pined. Republicans do not hate immigrants; they just want the law obeyed. And any respectable Hispanic who got here the legal way would support them, they said. It's a sad thing that they cannot recognize their own prejudices. Laws are made by men, and often very quickly. Many laws that are on the books could be described as biased, unjust, and just plain wrong. A philosophy that every law must be obeyed because it is the law leads to that bias, injustice and wrong being imposed on societal groups. A healthy respect and a healthy skepticism of the law is much to be preferred, because many laws need to be revised or junked. Republicans don't see this.

So it's been a banner week for liars and scoundrels, with great material for skeptics!