Two husbands in Congress

I was on vacation for a few days last week when I heard the news about Nevada's Republican Senator John Ensign. He suddenly called a press conference last Tuesday, June 16 and confessed to a nine-month affair with a campaign staff member. Not to diminish the accompanying verbiage, but it was fairly standard: This was the most difficult thing he had ever been through, terribly hard on the family, actually both families because previously, they had all been good friends...

There was a vague sense of deja vu to it all for me. Senator David Vitter of Louisiana admitted to dalliances with Washington-area prostitutes early last year. Both of these man were known as strong family-values conservatives; neither one would have been pegged as just another Republican Senator. Vitter is a rookie Senator, elected in 2004, but Ensign led the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2008 election cycle; I listened to a former strategist for his first Senatorial campaign at CPAC 2008 describe how he utilized a plan to target African-American churches in Nevada, which led to his ultimate victory in his first Senate race in 2000.

Joe Scarborough argues in his new book The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise that the time has come for conservatives to dial back on the rhetoric when it comes to social issues. His thesis is that Americans will only become more libertarian in the years ahead and ardent social conservatism clangs in a jarring cadence in light of that fact.

I disagree with his position, but it is hard not to wonder how our cause doesn't suffer corrosive damage with disclosures such as Senator Ensign's. Where do the accountability mechanisms fail for an increasingly powerful and respected politician? When do the inner checks and balances cease being overridden in the conscience of a pro-life, small-government Senator? What is that final boundary that crashes down? What pushes it over? Fatigue? Arrogance? Loneliness?

I don't know the answers to all of these questions, but yesterday on Fox News, I saw an interview with a man I have come to admire greatly as a political thinker and voice, Congressman Paul Ryan from Wisconsin. He gave the keynote speech at CPAC this year and his star has only continued to rise since then. The whole interview was phenomenal, but Chris Wallace's closing question was the clincher; he preceded this question with an admonition not to "give me the Sunday talk show answer", then queried, "What are your personal ambitions? Speaker Ryan? President Ryan?"

Ryan's response followed, with complete sincerity: "I don't — my ambitions don't go that far. I have two higher ambitions right now — number one, be the best husband I can be and be the best father I can be, and then work to save my country and advance my principles as a representative of the 1st Congressional District. That's the way these things are organized in my mind. So I'm not one of these people who are just simply looking at the next big job I can get. I'm looking at the direction of our country, the policies I want to pursue, and I want to make sure I'm a good dad and a good husband." (Verbatim from the Fox News Sunday transcript)

That, my friends, is a hero's answer in my book. It is too late now for Senator John Ensign to erase the past, although I wish him the best as he strives for reconciliation with his wife, his family and his God. But the rest of us could do well to follow Paul Ryan's example in our respective careers and spheres of influence.