GETTING WHAT WE DESERVE?

     A few weeks ago, Anthony Weiner (D-NY) tweeted an inappropriate picture of himself. After his initial denials, he admitted his wrong doing, issued the expected public apologies, and is now “seeking professional treatment” while on a leave of absence. Mr. Weiner has refused to resign his position. Sadly, moral failures of a sexual nature occur with some degree of regularity among our elected leaders. Here is a sampling going back to 1988: 

• 2011 - Nearly two years after acknowledging an affair with a former campaign staffer, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) resigned amid a Senate ethics probe. Rep. Chris Lee (R-N.Y.) resigned within hours after it was revealed that he sent a topless photo of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist.
• 2010 - Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) resigned amid allegations he sexually harassed male staffers.
• 2009 - After disappearing from his state for nearly a week, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having an affair with a woman in Argentina. He served out his full term, and couldn't run again because of term limits.
• 2008 - New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned after authorities said he spent tens of thousands of dollars to arrange visits with prostitutes.
• 2007 - Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) acknowledged that his Washington phone number was among those called by an escort service. He was reelected to a second Senate term in 2010.
• 2006 - Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) resigned after reports surfaced that he sent lurid messages to teenage male congressional pages.
• 2004 - New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey (D) resigned, announcing that he had an extramarital affair with a man.
• 2001 - Rep. Gary Condit's affair with intern Chandra Levy was exposed after the 23-year-old disappeared. The California Democrat, in office since 1989, left Congress in 2003 after losing a primary election to a former aide.
• 1998 - During the 1992 presidential primaries, former TV reporter Gennifer Flowers claimed she had a 12-year affair with candidate Bill Clinton. As president, he was accused of sexually harassing state worker Paula Jones. The Jones investigation ultimately revealed the president's relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
• 1995 - Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) resigned from the Senate following a three-year inquiry into allegations that he sexually harassed female members of his staff.
• 1990 - Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was reelected with 66 percent of the vote after allegations that he allowed a male prostitute to do business out of his home.
• 1988 - Gary Hart, once the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, ended his bid following reports of his affairs with Donna Rice and other women.

     It is amazing to me that many of these elected leaders were able to finish out their terms of office. Some were even re-elected, and a few continue to be re-elected by their constituents, who are apparently able to look past their moral failures. This seems to be the case with Weiner. According to a recent poll by Marist and NY1, Fifty six percent of those interviewed said that Weiner shouldn't resign, while only 33 percent said he should (12 percent said they hadn't made up their minds). One constituent said "They just have to use technology better." (Does he mean use technology for a higher, better purpose, or learn to use technology better so they don’t get caught?) Another said, "I hope this doesn't kill his political career. People just have little bad habits." Indeed. What Weiner’s constituent euphemistically calls “little bad habits”, God calls “sin”.
     Are we to expect our elected representatives to be perfect? If this were the case, no one would be qualified to serve, for “all have sinned” (Rom 3:23). What we should expect is upright, moral, and ethical conduct of our leaders. If that were truly the case, the voters would also expect that when a situation such as Anthony Weiner’s arises, there would be genuine confession, contrition, and resignation. In general, this is not what we get, because in general, this is not what we expect.

     The United States is not, as many people think, a democracy. The USA is a republic, in which authority is derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them. It is a “bottom up” form of government where the citizens at every level of government from the local to the federal, elect a civil agent that is believed to best represent them. One would expect an upright, moral, and ethical people to elect upright, moral, and ethical civil agents, and to demand that those who prove otherwise be removed from office. This is no longer the case in America, where votes are often cast, and those “little bad habits” overlooked on the basis of what the civil agent does for the people of his district. Can you say “pork projects”?

     John Adams said, “We have no government armed in power capable of contending in human passions unbridled by morality and religion…Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (Address to the Officers of the Massachusetts Militia, 1798.)

     In 1834, Noah Webster wrote “They choose men, not because they are just men, men of religion and integrity, but solely for the sake of supporting a party. This is a fruitful source of public evils. But as surely as there is a God in heaven, who exercises a moral government over the affairs of this world, so certainly will the neglect of the divine command, in the choice of rulers, be followed by bad laws and as bad administration; by laws unjust or partial, by corruption, tyranny, impunity of crimes, waste of public money, and a thousand other evils. Men may desire and adopt a new form of government; they may amend old forms, repair breaches and punish violators of the constitution; but there is, there can be no effectual remedy, but obedience to the divine law. (Value of the Bible- unpublished manuscript): 1834, emphasis mine.

     One hundred and sixty six years ago Webster defined the problem we face today, as well as the solution.

     Think about it…


In Christ –


John
Soli Deo Gloria