society governed by men's desires, the id, which would result in destructive chaos.

American history, recent as it is, is rooted in the struggles of the pioneer settlers, not only the Puritans. The need to maintain strong communities that were not riven by sexual jealousies and rivalries was paramount for survival.

Communities needed to have strong leadership and individual families needed the security of a strong father. Independence from British rule only exacerbated the need for a father who represented the virtues of moral integrity and benign authority.

This deep connection between private life and public interest also reveals an underlying anxiety that pervades the American political psyche to the present day.

On a psychological level, infidelity signifies an attack on the parental couple and, consequently, on the structure of the family. When this is extended into the political arena, it represents an attack on the political leader and social structure.

Perhaps because the US was founded on the basis of a murderous rebellion against its father country, Britain, it is particularly susceptible to paranoid anxieties that its own leaders will suffer the same fate.

This is called Oedipal guilt: ­ the guilt of the sons who want to kill the father. The fact that there have been so many assassinations and assassination attempts against the American presidency over the years seems to bear witness to this.

Ensign's confession of his sexual affair may be necessary not only to restore his own personal credibility but also to reinforce a belief in the authority and invincibility of American authority, particularly at a time when the country is in a much more vulnerable position in relation to the world than perhaps it has been since the Revolution.