It was even more recently that San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom (D) confessed to having an affair with the wife of his campaign manager and good friend. Senator Diane Feinstein’s (D-CA) response? “Look, we all make mistakes.” Sanford’s indiscretion is greeted by the left with derision (and with censure by South Carolina Republicans); Newsom is now running for Governor.

How can this be? Is it an aversion to the idea of any objective moral standard? A different philosophy in the requirements of leadership? One can certainly assign a portion of it to the new liberal maxim- embraced by the mainstream media-that conservatives are evil while liberals are good. Blame the rest on the left’s tendency to confuse principles with men.

A belief in universal moral virtues that transcend race, culture and economic status is a precept of conservatism. For new liberals public advocacy of this ideal is hypocrisy disguised as sanctimony. Therefore, when conservatives fail to clear that moral high bar, to liberal eyes it is not only testimony of the vacancy of the principles it is also confirmation of the ultimate depravity of the conservative mind and evidence of why they can’t be trusted with public office.

Because there is little value in principles, for the new liberal it is much better to set the moral bar as low as possible or better yet do away with it all together; simply proclaim that morality is relative and that what is good and true for you may not be true and good for me. And because progressives are doing the good work of bringing about social justice when they inevitably fail to live up to the rather low moral expectations they set, it is for them simply evidence of their humanity and a private matter not for public consumption.

What they miss is that it is precisely the onward march of progressivism that makes the private failings of public servants very much our business.

There was a time in our history when what we expected from our public servants was that they kept the machinery of government well oiled. Times have changed. Progressive politics ushered in an era of leaders as visionaries. Our leaders now ask us to trust them to use the machinery of government to solve the problems of mankind – to make our lives better. We are asked to follow them as they lead us into the Promised Land. It is precisely this change in the focus of leadership that makes the issue of private morality important. The question is not one of sex so much as it is one of credibility and judgment.

If a man can’t be trusted to guard the faith of his wife and the mother of his children, can he be depended upon to guard the public trust? Appeals to the greater social good ring hollow when made by men that visit disaster on their own families and the families of others.

It is ironic indeed that as we are asked to turn ever growing amounts of control over our personal lives to government, we are simultaneously being asked to dismiss notions of moral accountability as prudish or worse.

Of course none of this will make any sense if you are of the opinion that tradition is “so yesterday.” It will make even less sense if the inability of individual men to live up to certain principles is proof of the worthlessness of the principles as opposed to evidence of the weakness of the men.

There are a lot of other things in this story that make me question Mark Sanford’s judgment. How can any sane man think that he can jet off to South America for a week and have it go unnoticed? My brother runs a pizza joint and if he shows up fifteen minutes late the place is in chaos. How can a guy who runs a state think he can go off the grid for a week? I have long believed that a secret is only a secret if just one person knows it. How did the Governor’s love email get out? Gov. Sanford’s mistress claims her account was hacked. That means someone knew where to look for these love letters.

Here is another problem: Almost no one gets caught the first time they break a rule or a law. I am gonna guess that Governor Stanford has had another girlfriend or two in his past. I believe in forgiveness and that people can change but you do that in private and not while you are trying to fend off the liberals who are trying to ruin our country while your ex-mistresses are popping out of the woodwork. Mark Stanford needs to make some apologies and a quick exit from the political stage.

When he turns in his papers, I have the perfect person to replace him: his wife Jenny Sanford. She has been reported to be one of his top advisors and has experience in business and government. I also think she gives the other Republican Party hottie, Sarah Palin, a run for her money in the looks department. Here is what I like most about Jenny Sanford; she was not standing next to her husband when he gave his apology for his Argentine adventure. I have often wondered where these politicians find women who are willing to walk out behind them after they have been treated like doormats. She gave her husband a chance to straighten up when she found out about the affair a few months ago but now she is telling him to go suck eggs. She cares more about herself, herself self-respect and her values than the power of being First Lady of South Carolina with the possibility of moving up in a few years. If Hillary Clinton had that kind of spine, she would be sitting in the big chair right now instead of hoping that she can hang on and get her shot in 2016.