The Common Good  Mark Sanford, John Ensign, and 'The Family'
Presently, the glare of the media spotlight has started to shine
on a number of political figures, all of whom coincidentally
have a connection to a D.C.-based group called The Family.
Stories linking The Family to these politicos have appeared on a
number of media outlets including NPR's Fresh Air, The Rachel
Maddow Show, and Salon. Recently, I contacted religion scholar
Jeff Sharlet, author of the New York Times bestseller The
Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
and contributing editor for Rolling Stone and Harper's, to
discuss his research into this group and its connection to this
current round of political scandals.  What is The Family?  Let
me put in the words of a Washington insider who's an admirer of
the group: David Kuo, White House aide in Bush's term, calls it
"the most powerful group in Washington that nobody knows."
That's actually been quantified by a Rice University
sociologist, who surveyed 360 Christia