As a happily married man, I have never, ever understood the male desire to commit adultery.
It’s truly not that difficult to just … not cheat.
But even if you were so tempted, one would hope that these things called “duty” and “honor” would prevent you from giving into your basest instincts.
That being said, even if you had no scruples, strictly from a self-preservation sense, cheating has never made sense, either.
Would you like the woman to get half (or more) of your assets? Would you like to tarnish your reputation among family and friends? Of course not.
And yet, for all the obvious personal, moral, and practical reasons to avoid it, this kind of self-inflicted implosion keeps happening — especially among people who should know better (or at least like to claim they do).
Just look at the state of public officials. Men entrusted with power, visibility, and the confidence of their constituents somehow convince themselves they’re immune to consequences. Which brings us to the latest pair of congressmen, who just detonated their own careers under the all-too-familiar cloud of scandal.
Reps. Eric Swalwell (an outspoken anti-Donald Trump Democrat from California) and Tony Gonzalez (a Texas Republican) both announced this week that they will be leaving Congress under a cloud of scandal.
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) April 13, 2026
There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.
— Rep. Tony Gonzales (@RepTonyGonzales) April 13, 2026
Swalwell’s resignation comes after an avalanche of allegations accusing the progressive of sexually assaulting young females. Gonzalez’s resignation, meanwhile, comes after he admitted a month ago that he had had an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer.
Notably, both men are married and both have multiple children.
I’ll just be blunt: Good riddance to the both of them.
A man who cannot control his worst impulses has no business being a lawmaker. A man who cannot lead his wife and kids has no business being a community leader. And a man who clearly cannot comprehend the most basic lessons of the Bible has no business being a role model.
Matthew 5:27-28 makes it abundantly clear that adultery is a grave sin: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Adultery is both a private failing and a breach of covenant. Marriage, at its core, is a promise freely made and publicly affirmed, a commitment to fidelity that forms the foundation of a stable family. When a man breaks that promise, he’s proving that his word is conditional and that his commitments are negotiable when temptation arises.
That’s a fundamental crack in the very idea of trust.
It also reveals a dangerous kind of entitlement. Affairs don’t happen in a vacuum. They require deception, compartmentalization, and a willingness to put one’s own desires above the well-being of a spouse, children, and everyone else caught in the fallout. This raises a simple question: If they’ll betray the people closest to them, why wouldn’t they betray the people they represent?
Then there’s the ripple effect. Adultery doesn’t just wound a marriage, but destabilizes families, erodes trust in institutions, and feeds a broader cultural cynicism that commitments don’t really mean anything anymore. Children learn from what they see, not just what they’re told, and when fathers model disloyalty and duplicity, it leaves a mark that doesn’t easily fade.
At the end of the day, this isn’t complicated. Character still matters. Integrity still matters. And when men in positions of authority prove they lack both, the only appropriate response is accountability.
A word of advice to young men out there: Titles can be replaced, jobs can be earned again, but a man’s word, once broken so completely, is far harder to restore. It almost makes you feel a smidgen of sympathy for Swalwell and Gonzalez.
Almost.
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