Reading this blog post recently, it came to mind that maybe there was a connection between South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s adulterous ways and his support for opening up trade with the Castro regime. As a Republican he sponsored a bill that would allow for travel to Cuba, hoping to make the Castro gulag a vacation spot for dollar-wielding Americans. He has also taken trips to Cuba himself and has met with Fidel Castro. So what does that have to do with having an extramarital affair? Well, last month I wrote that the Cuban intelligence agency often eavesdropping on hollywood-types and political figures in order to acquire sensitive information that is used to blackmail them into becoming Castro-supporters. Is it possible that Sanford was blackmailed into supporting legislation that would enrich the Castro regime after Cuban intelligence found out about other extramarital activities? Pure speculation on my part, but interesting nonetheless.

What the Sanford affair actually shows is that politicians are humans, ambitions humans with many flaws, regardless of party. Politicians who claim or imply that they are perfect are simply lying. The American system of government was set up to provide some balance to the powers wielded by imperfect humans so that the people would not be subject to the whims of the few. Thus the modern tendency towards concentrating in the executive, the latest example being the appointment of 20+ “czars” accountable only to the president, is a direct assault on the system of checks and balances set up by the founding fathers. No one is perfect, regardless of what the mainstream media might have you think, and to increase the size and power of government, particularly the executive, is antithetical to the spirit of the American Revolution. Government needs to be efficient, smart, and practical, not the gargantuan, wealth-destroying/redistributing institution that it has become.

-AG