John Edwards Is The Real World

August 13, 2008

Why is any American shocked to learn that John Edwards committed adultery and lied about it? Do we not know our neighbors, friends, family? Adulterous promiscuity is one of America's favorite past times. Hot dogs, baseball, and promiscuity -- the American way.

The market responds accordingly. Every night, primetime television depicts non-marital sex as preferable to the beauty of a good marriage. According to a new report by the Parents Television Council, "across the broadcast networks, verbal references to non-marital sex outnumbered references to sex in the context of marriage by nearly 3-to-1; and scenes depicting or implying sex between non-married partners outnumbered scenes depicting or implying sex between married partners by a ratio of nearly 4-to-1."

Why are Americans glued to the TV whenever this salacious fare is broadcast? We cannot have it both ways. We cannot tolerate these dehumanizing entertainments, and reward the sponsors of these shows with our dollars, and then feign outrage when our leaders display this behavior in real life.

Advertising revenue and viewer ratings manifest the market's celebration of promiscuous, irresponsible non-marital sexuality by supporting programs that normalize the infidelity of John Edwards, Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Elliot Spitzer, and many others -- including our friends, family, and neighbors. Many Americans seem to think that what matters is not destroying your humanity through sexual immorality, wrecking a marriage, or emotionally scarring children, but getting caught doing so.

What televisions programs fail to depict, however, is the fact that in the real world promiscuous sexuality and adultery produces in the long run debilitating pain for all parties involved and is especially devastating to children whose parents cannot control themselves.

John Edwards perfectly describes the transition, saying that his growing fame and power, "fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism, that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want and you're invisible and there will be no consequences … and nothing could be further from the truth." This should serve as a warning to all of us.

The tempting combination of sex, money, and power is the deadly cocktail that entails potentially earth shattering consequences. There is an ancient proverb that reminds us, "your sins will find you out." It is a chilling fact that truth eventually exposes deception. It's simply how the world works.

When asked why he initially denied the allegations, Edwards commented that he "did not want the public to know what [he] had done." Why are commentators recoiling because Edwards lied about the affair? If a person commits adultery in the first place -- a massive betrayal of trust -- why would not the same kind of person lie about it in public?

What has been exposed, again, is that Americans do not value the necessary character formation concomitant with professional success. We do not demand it of our leaders because we do not demand it of ourselves. We are far more concerned about having the right ideology or professional achievements than about cultivating character and virtue. Leaders without character ultimately misuse economic, political, social relationships in ways that eventually hurt people.

In the decades to come, stories like this will be the American social narrative because Americans are not inculcating virtue in children. Are parents today raising children to be women and men of prudence, courage, justice, and self-control? Or are we raising the kinds of children who will be the self-focused, egotistic, and narcissistic, believe they are invincible and are morally accountable to no one? That is, "successful," but lacking integrity.

Today's American family, with its high rate of divorce, abuse, relational brokenness, poor media content preferences, success worship, and materialism, grooms children to become the type of adults who will one day be on television publicly admitting to impropriety. In America, we get the leaders we deserve because they represent what we the people truly value.

Anthony B. Bradley, Ph.D., is a research fellow at the Acton Institute and Assistant Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis.

Comments

Stanley Morton: csmorton6399@msn.com

I have one thing to say....PREACH IT BROTHER!!!!! SHOUT IT ON THE HOUSETOPS!!!!

Always good to check our your articles. Keep up the good work.

Florence: SundFls2957@aol.com

Mother Teresa once said that if we kill or allow the killing of the infant in the womb of the mother, what will we not do...the evil of abortion is horrendous...John Edwards is for this killing of the human baby...why would anything else matter to him?

Anne White: white.anne15@gmail.com

To reverse the tide of normalcy given to the practice of sins displayed as entertainment, we must make a public outcry identifying them. The response of those who deny the truth will be evidence of just how far America has fallen from our ideals of truth, justice, and righteousness. Our nation was God ordained to be a resource of blessing to the world, both materially and spiritually, but our minds and souls have been seduced by the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life presented in our mainstream media. There will be no change until we acknowledge as individuals and nationally that we have fallen away from the Creator God to Whom all men and nations belong. We must strive to make the truth heard before it is too late.

Benton Bain: bentonbain@cwpanama.net

The real story is that this scum bag is stealing money from a campaign to support his extra sex.

MJCIV: Michaeljc4@gmail.com

The sociologist Emile Durkheim postulated that a society can only tolerate so much deviance before it renorms itself, and what was once deviant becomes normative. Our culture is suffering death from a thousands tiny cuts as our public sphere becomes more and more lewd, and we tolerate things that--even one generation ago--would be completely intolerable. As the father of two small children, I worry about this a great deal. We can't raise our kids in a bubble, but the societal default setting is increasingly vulgar. How can we protect our kids from this toxicity?

Stephen J. Haessler: sjhaessler@hansenfoundation.org

This is an excellent though troubling post on the significance of the Edwards affair, and I thank you for making the point that we should not necessarily be surprised or shocked at infidelity in our leaders given the values that stream from the media and entertainment we consume. Shock and surprise may be appropriate, however, in so far as it is a visceral reaction, a intuitive revulsion, a gut reaction to sin. I like the Catechism paragraphs 1606-1608 especially on this point in regard to the marriage covenant and the great saddness and tragedy of violations of this covenant. 1606 reads: "Every man experiences evil around him and within himself." [The marriage union between man and woman] "has always been threatened by discord, a spirit of domination, infidelity, jealousy, and conflicts that can escalate into hatred and separation. This disorder can manifest itself more or less acutley, and can be more or less overcome according to circumstances of cultures, eras, and individuals, but it does seem to have a universal character." 1607 goes on to say: "According to faith the disorder we notice so painfully does not stem from the nature of man and woman, nor from the nature of their relations, but from sin. As a break with God, the first sin had for its first consequence the rupture of the original communion between man and woman." But, thanks be to God, there is the help of God's grace to honor the marriage covenant. 1608: "Nevertheless, the order of creation persists, though seriously disturbed. To heal the wounds of sin, man and woman need the help of the grace of God in his infinite mercy never refuses them. Without this help man and woman cannot achieve the union of their lives for which God created them 'in the beginning.'" Your post made me want to do something. Tonight I will not watch TV. Instead I will offer prayerful thanks to the author of marriage for his great gift, and for continued graces for all married men and women to resist the temptation to act on the wrong values and messages.

Peter Paul Scallan: pscallan@ec.rr.com

What about the elected officals, presently in office , who fit this frame?. Are their names not to be mentioned, since they are presently actively seeking a new elected office, or trying to remain in office? If you paint with a brush, use a wide one so you do not just look at just one Party!

Martin Van Dyk: awtmon@yahoo.ca

Thanks for the cue:
Our culture requires a reformation, because average is being accepted as normal, and that which God requests is normal.

Acton Commentary