Governor of New York, Lieutenant Governor of New York, Mayor of Detroit: Recently, the men occupying these powerful posts have had their sexual indiscretions publicly aired. The Governor's alleged cross-state tryst with a prostitute, and the mayor's indictment for perjury in his previous denial of sexual impropriety entangled in government business, could subject both to felony charges. Governor Eliot Spitzer, now-Governor David Paterson, and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick thus join the ranks of American political (and religious) leaders whose legacies have been marred or even destroyed by sex scandals.

Among the reports and commentaries I have sampled on these three events, none thus far has offered a perspective that will provide future governmental leaders with any real help in staying the path. Heightened fear, perhaps. But fear subsides over time -- or is decisively over-ruled in the moment by the powerful urges of (what I like to call) our "Lizard Legacy," supercharged by jolts of testosterone that are both cause and consequence of a significant rise in status. As I wrote in my book (referring to the fall of Pastor Ted Haggard and the impeachment proceedings of President Bill Clinton),...