True

believers in the Grand Old Party were shocked, saddened,

and humiliated by recent allegations that former Speaker

of the House Newt Gingrich was divorcing his wife of 18

years.

Adding fuel to the fire

were rumors that Gingrich had been having an affair with

Callista Bisek, a 33-year-old congressional aide.

Photographs have been published since the story broke

that would lead many Gingrich supporters to believe that

the allegations have a ring of truth.

The difficulty for

Republicans, of course, is that, for years, they assumed

that they held the high moral ground in the fight against

President Clinton and the sleazy spectacles in the White

House. Radio commentators and newspaper columnists were

eager to recount the sins of the President and to lambast

the Democratic Party for standing behind a morally flawed

leader.

Although Republicans said

that the impeachment of the President wasn't about sex,

everyone knew that it really was. "No, no, it's

about lying! The President shouldn't lie!" Maybe he

shouldn't. But does anyone really believe that Kennedy

never lied? Or Johnson? Or Nixon? Or Ford? Or Reagan? Or

Bush?

Maybe Jimmy Carter never

lied to the American public since he freely admitted that

there were times that he had "lusted in his

heart." Maybe.

But Americans have come to

expect their leaders to be liars. No one laughs anymore

at the old joke, "How do you tell if a politician is

lying? His lips are moving." We just assume that

it's a true proverb.

No, if the President had

only been a liar, or at least a good liar, he might have

escaped the furor. But by betraying his marital vows in

such a blatant and casual manner, President Clinton

turned his administration into a real-life episode worthy

of The Jerry Springer Show. With the public tuning in to

the public peep show, Republicans unleashed the power of

their majority on a President who had made himself

vulnerable.

Smugly, Republicans pointed

to the Contract With America, to their pro-life stance,

and to their heroic Speaker of the House. "No,"

many reasoned, "Gingrich wasn't all that popular,

but then prophets never are." The fiery Newt, who

had attacked Clinton so fiercely on White House policies

would lead the charge, so it was assumed, against this

covenant-breaker, this exposed adulterer in the Oval

Office.

But he didn't. Not really.

A few initial statements and then a resumed attack on the

policies and on the alleged perjury. Republicans were

confused by the Speaker's hesitation to take advantage of

the opportunity provided by the President, but others

surged into the gap, taking up the righteous sword to jab

and slash at Clinton.

But, in the end, Clinton

prevailed and, suddenly, shockingly, Gingrich resigned

his speakership and the seat he had held for 20 years.

And now we know why.

Many diehard supporters

were left feeling betrayed, dazed, confused, reeling, and

angry. Many Republicans are standing by Gingrich, saying

that his personal life doesn't have anything to do with

his politics. Of course, that's the same thing that

Democrats said about the President.

The Religious Right seems

especially hard hit since they backed Newt to the hilt.

Now, the charges of adultery and hypocrisy have left them

feeling embarrassed and despondent, with the sense of

having backed a loser.

Of course, the same group

backed Reagan only to be chagrined by Mrs. Reagan's

visits with an astrologer. In an earlier time, supporting

the "born-again" Jimmy Carter, evangelicals

were disappointed with administration policies.

Many national religious

leaders are, one by one, abandoning the political realm

altogether, believing that the entire system is so rife

with corruption that no help and no hope will ever be

found inside the Beltway.

The truth is, of course, is

that they are finally right. There is no help or hope to

be found in the savagery that is politics.

In civics class, students

were taught that the goal of politicians is to promote

justice, serve the needs of the people, and help everyone

to have a fair shot at achieving the America dream. The

sad truth is that politics is about raw power and the

goal of politicians is to get elected and to stay elected

so that they will have a chance to exercise that power.

Oh, maybe in the beginning,

the aims were honorable and noble, but even those

candidates who ran and were elected on a

"term-limitation" platform, abandoned that

stance once in office. And perhaps local citizens who

serve, often without pay and even at great personal cost,

on school boards, small city councils, and county

commissions may escape the intoxication of power-fueled

politics.

But much higher than that,

at the state and federal levels, the name of the game

becomes power. And with power, of course, comes the

thought that those who hold the power are somehow exempt

from moral absolutes.

Politicians who weren't

troubled at all by the army of Iraq, were thrown into a

panic at the potential loss of place and power by

porn-publisher Larry Flynt who threatened to expose all

the nasty little secrets of certain congressmen.

Many religious leaders,

formerly allied with one political party or another, are

beginning to wise up and get back to reality. A political

ideology, whatever it may be, will never provide lasting

answers or a sense of hope. Only a spiritual renewal will

accomplish that great task.

As the ancient writer once

said, "Some trust in chariots (Democrats?) and some

in horses (Republicans?), but we will remember the Name

of the Lord our God."

While we should pray for

our leaders, it is high time to quit looking to flawed,

power-hungry men and women to lead the way. It is time...

it is way past time... for a spiritual renewal. It is

time to remember the Name of the Lord our God. [Father

David Epps is rector of Christ the King Charismatic

Episcopal Church. He is a former vice-president of a

political party at the county level and has been a

delegate to a state party convention. He may be contacted

online at [email protected] or at P. O. Box 2192, Peachtree

City, GA 30269.

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