Mark Sanford participates in an ugly organization. He believes in taking what is yours and giving it to someone else. He wants to put you in jail for things you might like to do that couldn't harm anyone else but that he doesn't want you to do anyway. If he didn't believe in this than he would have had to lie constantly to get elected and stay elected. He didn't lie. He is a good man, not a liar. As a politician theft and coercion are simply his trade.
How can he be so bad and yet good? That's because he is a basically good man locked in a decadent time. In a decadent time institutions are dysfunctional. Requirements made on individuals are burdensome and meaningless in a decadent time.
On December 2, 2008 Governor Sanford, along with Governor Rick Perry of Texas, had this to say about the bailout:
As governors and citizens, we've grown increasingly concerned over the past weeks as Washington has thrown bailout after bailout at the national economy with little to show for it.
In the process, the federal government is not only burying future generations under mountains of debt. It is also taking our country in a very dangerous direction -- toward a " bailout mentality" where we look to government rather than ourselves for solutions. We're asking other governors from both sides of the political aisle to join with us in opposing further federal bailout intervention for three reasons.
First, we're crossing the Rubicon with regard to debt.
One fact that's been continually glossed over in the bailout debate is that Washington doesn't have money in hand for any of these proposals. Every penny would be borrowed...
Second, the bailout mentality threatens Americans' sense of personal responsibility.
In a free-market system, competition and one's own personal stake motivate people to do their best. In this process, the winners create wealth, jobs and new investment, while others go back to the drawing board better prepared to try again...
Third, we'd ask the federal government to stop believing it has all the answers...
In the rush to do "something" to help, federal leaders would be wise to take a line from the Hippocratic Oath, and pledge to do no (more) harm to our country's finances. We can weather this storm if we commit to fiscal prudence and hold true to the values of individual freedom and responsibility that made our nation great.
Mark Sanford is one of the good bad people who can't imagine a world without a coercive government, but at least he is a man who tries to keep the government he is part of from becoming worse. He will fail.
He is now a spokesman for responsible fiscal policy. He knows that South Carolina will be forced to bail out California which has doubled the size of its government. He knows that South Carolina would be better off opting out of any federal bailout. But South Carolina can't bail out of the bailout because it is captive. The United States government will ruin South Carolina's money no matter what. It has come up with all sorts of money packages that it will dangle before the companies that will benefit and the counties that will benefit when South Carolina accepts the money. If Governor Sanford will not accept the money than the legislature will do it anyway. And South Carolina's money (the United States dollar) will be ruined either way.
Mark Sanford has never been more right than he is now to stand against the bailout. He is acting like a man of principle. If he continues to do so than he will cease to be a politician which will be to his credit. I predict that he will cave in and accept the bailout money, but if he doesn't than he will be part of the solution.
The solution, of course, is for South Carolina to bail out of the United States.
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Shalom Brother.
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