SC's Sanford Escapes Impeachment: Scott Hinkley

I think the decision not to impeach Mark Sanford was the right one, but I can see how it must have been a difficult consensus to seek. I appreciate that as a culture we desire personal leadership out of our professional leaders, but I am pleased that the state government chose to make a distinction between professional and personal transgressions. As far as I can tell, the only professional failure he made was to take an undisclosed vacation, which seems irresponsible, but hardly deserving of impeachment.

I can understand how many would have hopped for more serious professional punishment for his violation of marital trust, but to me this smacks of righteous indignation. I am more of the school of thought that we should accept the humanity in our leader's mistakes as reassurance that their so-called "demons" are more likely complexities that arise from a modern sense of collective destiny conflicting with individualism, a condition we all share. This makes the hypocrisy of moralization seem very unappealing to me. I do not attempt to defend Mr. Sanford's poor choices, but I caution those still hungry for retribution, the biggest mistake is to assume that those you know an love would not be capable of the same mistakes.

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