My Thoughts Exactly on the Mark Sanford Ordeal
Before "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" became background music at every groveling Sanford press conference and speech, we had a governor who did his best to stand up to a Legislature that ranks right up there, or rather down there, with those in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and California. And yes, many good and decent people serve and have served in our Legislature. It's just the organization that doesn't perform very well.
You cannot blame Mark Sanford for South Carolina's sky-high unemployment, dearth of job-creating industry, abysmal public schools, or drastic revenue shortfalls brought about by a severe national recession. Come to think of it, you can't even blame him, as many today undoubtedly would, for the failure of USC and Clemson to field better than mediocre football teams, despite the best coaching and playing talent money can buy.
The brutal fact is that South Carolina, dominated by its Legislature, is not and never has been a poster child for strong and responsible government. This is partly systemic. The checks and balances one usually looks for in a democratic constitution are not much in evidence here. The Legislature lords it over both the executive and judicial branches. We are the only state in the nation with a Budget and Control Board that exercises executive powers ordinarily held not by the legislature but by the governor. Judges and justices are elected by our legislature, and those seeking a career in the judiciary must first join the good-old-boy network in the Statehouse, in effect making our courts retirement homes for legislators grown weary of the legislative grind.
Should he resign? Should he be impeached because of a business-class ticket or two? Be careful what you wish for.
This editorial makes more sense than anything else I've seen since Mark Sanford turned "hiking the Appalachian Trail" into a euphemism for bad behavior. I was (and am) as upset at the Governor as anyone else.
But what would impeaching him accomplish? Would it show that we, as conservatives, take a stand on moral issues? It might give that appearance, but, as Schreadley rightly notes, "I wonder how many of those urging his resignation or impeachment could stand up to the same scrutiny he is subjected to?" Very, very few. If any.
All we're seeing now is nothing short of political maneuvering. And the only thing it will accomplish is South Carolina's further descent into a horribly-ill good ol' boy system of governance.
