John Edwards recently admitted that the child of the woman he had an affair with is his child after all. First he lied about having an affair at all, adamantly proclaiming that these accusations were false. Then he said that he did have the affair after all (while his wife was battling cancer), but he lied about the baby, claiming that it wasn’t possible that the woman’s baby was his. Now he has admitting to both the affair and the baby, as well as all of the bold-faced lies. Isn’t it scary to think how close he came to being vice-president, and even president?
During the Democratic primaries for his 2008 campaign for the presidency, Edwards had the audacity to cite the failure of moral leadership among our national leaders, convincingly portraying himself as our moral savior. Somehow, politicians (especially lawyers, it seems) have an uncanny ability to stand in front of television cameras and tell bold-faced lies (both Democrats and Republicans).
One doesn’t have to look very far to find moral failures among politicians. Below are just the main ones among governors and senators during the last two years:
– Former vice-presidential candidate and Dem. Senator of North Carolina John Edwards admitted this affair, and fathering an out-of-wedlock child.
– Rep. Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina admitted an extramarital affair.
– Dem. Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois was accused of attempting to sell President Obama’s U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder.
– Rep. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was found guilty on seven federal counts of failing to report gifts received, a violation of the Ethics in Government Act.
– Dem. Governor David Patterson of New York and his wife both acknowledged extramarital affairs.
– Dem. Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York resigned from office due to a prostitution scandal.
– Rep. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho was arrested for homosexual lewd conduct in a men’s restroom, entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge, announced his intention to resign from the Senate, and then refused to resign.
Looking back a few more years, the list goes on and on: Dem. Governor Jim McGreevey of New Jersey (extramarital affair and homosexuality); Dem. President Bill Clinton (lying in a sworn deposition, impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice, sexual harassment, and numerous adulterous relationships); President Richard Nixon (resigned from office rather than face impeachment for the Watergate cover-up, accepting illicit campaign contributions, and illegal wiretaps). Dem. Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts (sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and even leaving the scene of an accident in the suspicious death of Mary Jo Kopechne in 1969, although he suspiciously escaped further charges which may have included negligent driving, DWI, manslaughter, or even murder.
We cannot expect moral leadership from our government and its politicians. Indeed, they should have live moral lives, but they have proven to us that very few do. Sadly, it’s even becoming more difficult to expect ethical behavior from our Christian leaders. I suppose that because of the failure of man’s flesh, we can look only to the Bible for moral leadership.
Jeremiah 7:9-10 says, “Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe”– safe to do all these detestable things?'”
For those of us with some moral values, it’s very tempting to just stop voting because we can’t believe any the campaign promises from our politicians. However, of course, not casting a vote would be worse. I suppose that we just have to decide whether we’re going to vote for lying Democrats or lying Republicans. What a sad commentary on American politics.
I believe Patterson is the only person of the last few years to stand up to the uber liberal NYC left that has put our state under massive amount of debt and spending we can’t afford. They scream about wall street but need the tax revenue from their bonus’s to pay for all their over price over abused liberal spending programs. How can anyone justify a state of 19 Million spending more than a state of 35 and 28 million COMBINED in medicaid???