A Dose of Reality for the Republicans

Nothing like a dose of reality to change one's mind and create the possibility of kindness toward others in similar straits.

Gov. Mark Sandford's extramarital affair knocks one more contender out of the ring.

But this is no time for cheering; this is a time for grieving - for his family, for the man, and for the State of South Carolina.

But it's also a time for the Republicans to take stock, those who love to scramble to the top of the moral high ground, throwing their caustic remarks at “lesser human beings.”

The GOP - the Greedy Old Party, has become the party of smoke and mirrors, guided by the religious right, which seems to lack in the body-politic what we used to call an "honest bone."

Jesus has been turned into a scam for success, popularity, white teeth, winning beauty pageants and body-building championships, not to mention wealth, health and power, and, even heaven, for heaven’s sake - what a deal.

But as Peter DeVries once observed, down deep, it's shallow - very shallow, indeed.

Sin happens! For Republicans and for Democrats (see Monica Conyers in Detroit) alike, the flesh is weak - and so shall it remain.

So I hope, likely against the current in the GOP right now, that a new humility and a new compassion might emerge:
* For the GLBT community and their quest for marriage equality.
For the right of the mother to make basic decisions about her own body.
* And a fresh awareness that “family values” are all about education, work-place safety and benefits, environment, the reduction of global warfare, a single-payer health care system to rid us of a $400 billion industry bent on profits and not health.

It’s not likely to happen.

But I can hope.

I feel for Mr. Sanford.
He’s just a human being after all.
But as a member of the GOP, he has to pretend, as they all do.

Too bad!