Politics often dulls the senses to morality and "values." That's because of an unholy alliance between people of faith and politicians that often ends in compromise on the part of the faithful and the cynical harvesting of their votes with little offered in return. So, when someone like Rep. Don Sherwood, Pennsylvania Republican, is exposed for cheating on his wife and allegedly abusing his mistress, Cynthia Ore, he still gets an 85 percent approval rating from the Focus on the Family Action organization. The delicious irony is he might have earned a 100 percent rating had he voted for the Marriage Protection amendment, which he supported. Mr. Sherwood lost his seat to a Democrat.
One might reasonably argue that a very good way to protect marriage is to remain faithful to one's spouse, but in politics that sort of behavior won't raise money for the interest groups or votes for the Republicans. In this case, "family values" wasn't about Mr. Sherwood's personal example, but his record of keeping homosexuals from marrying. Wouldn't it do more for the family to strengthen heterosexual marriage before telling others how to live their lives? Why have we seen so many politicians (and some clergy) who talk about "family values" turn out to be the worst practitioners of them?
