Governor Mark Sanford, of South Carolina, in a press conference on Tuesday admitted to having an affair with a mistress from Argentina. Unfortunately for Republicans, and other conservative parties, this will be detrimental to Governor Sanford's potential run at the Presidency in the 2012 election cycle. He immediately resigned from his Chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association, and is now faced with the decision to resign from his office or possibly face impeachment from the state legislature. This seems like an ironic turn of "affairs" (pun intended) for Gov. Sanford since he was such a harsh critic of the Clinton scandal calling him a quote, "rascal." So the question stands to be answered, should Gov. Sanford resign, and if he will not, should he be impeached?
First, let us take a look what Sanford had to do to continue this affair with his mistress. It began innocently, as Sanford explained in the initial confession, with e-mails being exchanged back and forth. But quickly escalated into something more as he admitted. This is where the situation just gets down right scandalous. Let's just go through a list of things the Governor had to do to follow through with this affair: he was discovered to be having the affair 5 months ago (continued to meet with the woman despite the fact he had been found out), he had to make sure his passport was updated, that he had hiking boots, that he packed, that bought an international plane ticket, that he lied to and deceived staff, family, and friends at to his wear abouts, evade his security detail, check in at the airport, go through security, get on the plane, fly to Argentina, get off the airplane, take a car to the mountains, and hike through the mountains to have an affair. This is not the sign of man who simply "fell" morally, this is the sign of a man who planned, calculated, and contrived a way to carry out these immoral actions. At any one of these points of action he could have listened to his conscience and stopped carrying out the plans, but he did not and therefore proved himself to be an irrational, immoral, and irresponsible husband, father, friend, and governor.
In my opinion, the governor should resign of his own accord. He admitted that his actions were wrong and even that God had a law and that there are consequences for breaking that law. Yet, he cannot see why he would need to resign, even when his party is calling for his resignation to maintain so of the moral dignity left. It is likely that the governor is getting advice from all different types of people in the political sphere on what he should do, but what are the people of South Carolin saying? Oddly enough many of the South Carolinians who have been interviewed are sympathetic with governor and do not want to see him resign. It almost as if the people see this like reality television being played out before their eyes, thereby making them sympathetic to the main character. This is an odd scandal if you ask me, and not one I would like to find myself in the middle of as all of the South Carolina legislature will in the coming days.
So now comes the big question, if Gov. Sanford continues to choose not to resign, should the state legislature impeach him? Once again, in my opinion, the governor should be impeached. I have several reasons why. First, the Governor cannot be trusted to have his peoples interests in mind, since he has proved by this scandal to be an extremely selfish and self-centered person. Second, he has proved to be an immoral person who is capable of making irrational and irresponsible decisions that have detrimental impacts on the lives of other people. How then can the state continue to trust him to avoid corruption and scandal on inside deals and spending? Third, he has proven that the characteristics upon which he was elected are no longer true, and has broken the sworn oath he took when he became the governor of South Carolina. Therefore, I say step down Governor Sanford and maintain some dignity, otherwise go get him South Carolina legislature and get ready to make the history books "Mr. Sanford."
That's what we think, now tells what you think.
Signing off for Conservative Icon this is JJ Stephens.
Image taken from Associated Press.
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