Since Governor Sanford reappeared, the talk shows have had almost non-stop talk about the situation. The facts are rather simple. The Governor was attracted to a woman, not his wife. This went on for a while in relative privacy. Then, he decided to visit her in Argentina. When he made the visit, he did not confide in anyone on where he was going. That is why the false story about the hiking trip was given out. After learning that he was discovered, Governor Sanford admitted to the affair and resigned from the leadership post with the Republican Governor’s Association.

The story is a familiar one. A man in a powerful position finds himself attracted to women. Even though he is married, he decides that nobody will find out about an affair with “this woman”. So, the powerful man breaks his marriage vows and has the affair with the exciting woman that he has found. Of course, he is found out. Some, at this point, try to lie their way out like Bill Clinton. Others, like Mark Sanford, own up to the error and admit the affair. The one thing that almost all of them do not do is give up the power that they currently hold. It is extremely rare for a person in power to give that up over an affair with a woman. They may give up leadership positions, but not the position of power that they currently hold. If the person is a Democrat, things are forgotten and go back to normal. If the person is a Republican, he is hounded all the way through the election to guarantee that he loses and a Democrat can pick up the seat.  This situation is following in the typical pattern. It is still early, so we do not know how it will finally play out.

Mark Sanford was talked about as Presidential material. That talk is now over. This affair will ruin his career potential. He has reached the maximum level that he will ever reach in politics. He could have gone much higher. He was saying and doing all the right things to enable him to be nominated for President or Vice-President.

Mike Gallagher asked a question on his radio program this morning that was intriguing. The question is whether we can have living heroes. Mike Gallagher had put Mark Sanford in the hero category because of his track record on the issues. Now that Mark Sanford has shown that he has feet of sand, he has proven that he is not a hero. Many of us do the same thing with other politicians or public figures. The problem is that all of these “heroes” are human. Humans, by definition, make mistakes. If we accept the fact that humans make mistakes, then we also should accept that our “heroes” will make mistakes. We just have to hope that the mistakes we are talking about are a little smaller than this one by Mark Sanford. For example: I put John Wayne in the hero category. I know that he smoked, but he still qualifies as a hero because of a great many other qualities. The same would work for almost all people that would qualify as heroes. The only unblemished heroes would be fictional or Jesus Christ. All others are fallible human beings.

The Democrats will make hay out of this admission by Mark Sanford and the other recent one by John Ensign. They will claim that Republicans are hypocrites. We preach about family values, then go off and have affairs. These affairs actually prove the message, not disprove the message. The fact that they are unusual proves that Republicans are generally supportive of family values proves the point. That a few fall off the wagon is not a rejection of family values, it is just an acknowledgement that humans are not perfect. On the other hand, nobody bats an eyelash when a Democrat is unfaithful. That is because Democrats do not uphold family values and so are not expected to live them. I would rather live family values and have some fall off the wagon than not live family values at all. Of course, that is the Christian in me talking.

Yesterday, Vermont became the first state that ratified a bill authorizing people of the same sex to marry. They had to override the veto of the Governor to complete the task. All the other states that have authorized same sex marriage have been because of unelected judges. Dennis Prager discussed this issue on the way to work today.

What is the real issue with same sex marriage? Is it the rights that married people have? No, same sex couples can get the same rights if they so choose. Is it to get the same benefits that married people have? Maybe, but these benefits can be obtained in ways other than getting married.

Then what is the real reason? The answer may lie in the acronym used by the Gays and Lesbians, LGBT. That stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. The gays and lesbians claim that they are that way because it is genetic. People are bisexual and transgender because of choice. That would indicate that the goal of the organization is to blur the line between male and female. If you blur the line between male and female, then bisexual and transgender become more acceptable. Also as an offshoot, gays and lesbians are not considered different at all.

Why throw away thousands of years of Jewish and Christian tradition just because a few people say so? Shouldn’t we acknowledge the wisdom of the ages? There has to be a reason that the Jews and Christians adopted the marriage covenant between men and women only. The reason is obvious. If you want society to continue, you have to have children. The only way to have children is for men and women to get together and create a child. Marriage then protects the woman and children from starvation and death. Traditionally, the man is obligated to care for the woman and children. Both the man and the woman then train the children in what is expected of them to make them good members of the society. This practice has successfully continued civilization to our day. It is a successful practice.

We started to modify that practice when we needed women to work during World War II. At that time, women had to go to work because most of the men were off fighting in the war. Women liked earning a paycheck. When men came back from the war, many women had a difficult time giving up the paycheck to become the housewife again. That started women working. In our time, women have to work to provide enough money to pay for the houses that we own. Generally, men also do not earn enough money to have a wife and children at home like they did before World War II.

Gays and Lesbians say that changing the definition of marriage will not have any impact on society. I believe they are wrong. It will take a few years, but I believe that changing the definition of marriage will confuse the gender roles that men and women have had for thousands of years. In other countries where they have relaxed the marriage laws, marriages are much fewer. That means more women raising children without the aid of a husband. I do not want to sound like a male chauvinist pig, but I believe that men are essential in a family. Boys need to learn how to be men and girls need to know how men are supposed to behave. Just like boys need to learn to respect their mother and sisters, girls need to learn how to be women from their mothers. A family where one of these roles is missing is not a complete family. Studies show that children are less likely to be involved in crime if they come from a home with a father and a mother. I am not saying that there are not good people that were raised by just their father or their mother. I am just saying that in general, children born and raised to a married father and mother turn out better.

If you want a predictor of crime, one of the best statistics you could use is did the person come from a one parent household. If you want a predictor of poverty, one of the best statistics you could use is did the person come from a one parent household. The percentages are against one parent households being successful. There are many that are, but there is a larger number that do not make it. There are just not enough statistics on children raised by two fathers or two mothers to be valid, but my guess is that they are not much better than single parent households. Only one gender is represented. A successful family has both genders as role models.

I have been successfully married for almost 37 years. During that time, each of us has had a role in raising our children. Both of us taught them different things and that turned them into whole individuals. Our children laugh when they identify that this or that trait came from me. It makes us closer as a family. I frequently see my father in the things that I do and say. I am sure that my sons do the same thing. As I look back, I would not change much. I would still marry and raise my seven wonderful children, even if I knew how much of a problem that was going to be.

This evening, I read that Focus on the Family decided to kill an interview they did with Glen Beck because he is a “Mormon”. They claim that Mormon ideology is incompatible with evangelical Christian ideology. We went through all this during the primary season with the bigot Mike Huckabee. Now, we have to deal with the bigot organization Focus on the Family.

I call them bigots because they are intolerant of views that do not completely agree with their position. That is a classic definition of a bigot. A bigot says that in order for me to have any interaction with you, you have to agree with everything that I believe in. First, nobody ever agrees completely with everything that you believe in. Everyone has their own interpretation of what is “true”. Second, if you only deal with people that agree with you, you have a very narrow world to move in. Now, I will admit that I am most comfortable doing activities with other members of my own faith, but I do not exclude other faiths (even non-Christian faiths). That is the way that everyone should be. If I had a radio show or a magazine and someone did something that I felt was good, I would take the time to interview them and give them a forum to state what they did and why. That way we build relations between groups. Excluding groups that you do not agree with builds walls that are difficult to tear down when you need to.

This action by Focus on the Family on the heels of the actions by Mike Huckabee will be difficult for Mormons or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to forget. When an evangelical Christian person comes to us asking us for our votes, we will remember when we were rejected out of hand by evangelical Christians. We are not asking that evangelical Christians believe as we do (though we would like you to), we are just asking you to treat us as equals. You treat us as if we are “evil”. We do not treat you as if you are “evil”. You call us terrible names and say things about us that are not true. We do not call you names and do not say things, on purpose that are not true.

It is my understanding that Jesus taught that we should be kind to others. We should not bear false witness against our neighbor. Who is being the better “Christian” in this situation? You who bear false witness and call names or us who bear this with little outcry? Is Glen Beck the better Christian for his actions and telling the truth or Focus on the Family for dealing falsely with him? I think that evangelical Christian people and organizations should look into their own souls and determine what is driving this hate. Is it Christian love that is driving the hate or does the hate come from some other place?

If the hate comes from something other than Christian love, shouldn’t evangelical Christians repent and deal truly with their neighbors? I am not saying that evangelical Christians have to endorse everything that “Mormons” believe. Shouldn’t you encourage “Mormons” to do and say things that you believe to be true? Isn’t that the better way to lead someone to the truth than denouncing everything they do no matter how good it may be?

I for one am through endorsing evangelical Christians for political office. Evangelical Christians need to start embracing and supporting the truth wherever they find it. We members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that we should look for truth wherever we can find it. We believe that all groups have some truth and as such need to be encouraged. That is why we do not denounce any group or organization as evil unless it exhibits a total disregard to the truth like radical Muslim groups. I do not like supporting bigots and am tired of trying to pretend that evangelical Christians are not bigots.