I am hesitant about speaking about politics. I guess its not if anyone is reading this at the moment so I guess I shouldn't be so weary about crossing into the arena, but I always feel like I am opening myself up to a world of arguments when speaking about the topic. I will admit I am not the most super well informed person, but I am going to try to approach something here that maybe my lack of knowledge will assist me in. I want to think about the recent Scooter Libby pardon. I got home the day this happened and the news channel (CNN) was conveniently on and it was all they were speaking about. There were many people that were given short one to two minutes spots to share their opinion, and I heard a variation of those. Some were rather intelligent and some were rather tainted by biases (I say this meaning there wasn't much logic to there arguments but rather they wanted to fight for their "team" as I heard one pundit say).
Here is the thing: this man lied (for whatever reasons) to a grand jury, committing perjury. The reasons could be argued over for a while, but it obvious was a reason good enough to lie to a grand jury. I think if you asked people whether lying was good or not most would reply it is not a good thing. Some would call it a sin, while others may just say not really that good (oh relativity), but most would agree this is not a good thing. So why are we arguing over whether it was right or wrong for the president to partially pardon this man. Well first of all, Bush made it so this man would not serve any jail time. He still has to pay $250,000, which is a lot of money, but I have a feeling is going to be a drop in the bucket for this man with all his friends. Basically he has several other punishments (I heard he was losing his license to practice law...that's no birthday present), but I believe jail time is the crux of this punishment.
So "Scooter" (what grown man is called Scooter...alright I digress) gets off for lying. This is wrong. Now I know some may say "Hey you know the beloved Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people who did a lot worse and he also was impeached for perjury!" You might me expect to try to weave around this argument, but I won't. I will say, "My good sir (or madam) you are correct. He did this. That was wrong and it sucks that we are so politicized that people were blind to that and didn't do something about it for it furthered the perception and reality of a bunch of corrupt men hanging out in the District of Columbia." At the same time if you were so pissed off about that (which looking back on it, it does make me quite upset), why is this pardon okay? Why does Bill Clinton's piss poor choices make Bush's alright? It really doesn't. So lets stop the political nonsense and call a spade a spade. What Bush did was flat out wrong. I don't care if we impeach Bush (at this point it would be a giant waste of the public's money), but lets just all agree this was not the right thing to do.
Its that I care if Scooter Libby is wandering the streets. Its not as if I will run into him and think to myself "Oh shoot, Scooter! Better get out of this neighborhood!", but the point is he is the symbol, at the moment, of the corruption that is hanging out in every office of every politician. To be clear, I am not saying every politician is corrupt, but recent happenings gives the general American that point of view. This may be a trite thing to say, but how can I tell my child (future child in my case) about how bad it is to lie when we have our leaders lying? I guess I could try to explain, "See son, money gives you the opportunity to do bad things and justify them by other peoples mistakes."
If anyone read this I bet I would be hit with a lot of probably good points. I hope someone does read this and I can actually be engaged in a logical discussion because to be honest my point of view is not fixed. As for right now I agree with a great songwriter named Derek Webb...
Here is the thing: this man lied (for whatever reasons) to a grand jury, committing perjury. The reasons could be argued over for a while, but it obvious was a reason good enough to lie to a grand jury. I think if you asked people whether lying was good or not most would reply it is not a good thing. Some would call it a sin, while others may just say not really that good (oh relativity), but most would agree this is not a good thing. So why are we arguing over whether it was right or wrong for the president to partially pardon this man. Well first of all, Bush made it so this man would not serve any jail time. He still has to pay $250,000, which is a lot of money, but I have a feeling is going to be a drop in the bucket for this man with all his friends. Basically he has several other punishments (I heard he was losing his license to practice law...that's no birthday present), but I believe jail time is the crux of this punishment.
So "Scooter" (what grown man is called Scooter...alright I digress) gets off for lying. This is wrong. Now I know some may say "Hey you know the beloved Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people who did a lot worse and he also was impeached for perjury!" You might me expect to try to weave around this argument, but I won't. I will say, "My good sir (or madam) you are correct. He did this. That was wrong and it sucks that we are so politicized that people were blind to that and didn't do something about it for it furthered the perception and reality of a bunch of corrupt men hanging out in the District of Columbia." At the same time if you were so pissed off about that (which looking back on it, it does make me quite upset), why is this pardon okay? Why does Bill Clinton's piss poor choices make Bush's alright? It really doesn't. So lets stop the political nonsense and call a spade a spade. What Bush did was flat out wrong. I don't care if we impeach Bush (at this point it would be a giant waste of the public's money), but lets just all agree this was not the right thing to do.
Its that I care if Scooter Libby is wandering the streets. Its not as if I will run into him and think to myself "Oh shoot, Scooter! Better get out of this neighborhood!", but the point is he is the symbol, at the moment, of the corruption that is hanging out in every office of every politician. To be clear, I am not saying every politician is corrupt, but recent happenings gives the general American that point of view. This may be a trite thing to say, but how can I tell my child (future child in my case) about how bad it is to lie when we have our leaders lying? I guess I could try to explain, "See son, money gives you the opportunity to do bad things and justify them by other peoples mistakes."
If anyone read this I bet I would be hit with a lot of probably good points. I hope someone does read this and I can actually be engaged in a logical discussion because to be honest my point of view is not fixed. As for right now I agree with a great songwriter named Derek Webb...
"you can always trust the devil or a politician
to be the devil or a politician"
Listening to: Chris Merrit - "Country Music"
2 comments:
These are all interesting and provoking thoughts. First, just a clarification (and I may be wrong) but I do think there is a difference between commuting a sentence (so that he will not spend any time in prison) and a pardon (which is forgiveness of the actual crime). Bush has not yet pardoned Libby, but he has also not said that he would not in the future (but, that has not yet occurred). So I don’t think that Bush is necessarily forgiving Libby for what he has done, but has instead stated that he has been punished enough and that prison is not necessary or is too great a punishment. So comparing what Bush has done here with Clinton’s many pardons may not be an accurate comparison.
Although I would not dare to begin to defend Scooter Libby I do think that one must consider the appropriateness or necessity of Libby spending time in prison. Certainly what he did was wrong and deserving of sanction, but we must also remember that the man has already lost any hope of a future career- he has not only lost his law license, but certainly has lost any credibility or hope of being involved in politics in the future.
There was an interesting article in the Washington Post by William Otis in which he argued that Bush should commute Libby’s sentence because the sentence was out of proportion to the crime.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060602292.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
Often times I think that our country gets far to caught up in “justice” and “redemption” for the wrongs that people commit. Instead it seems that that energy and time could be put to a far greater cause in forgiving those who repent for the wrongs they have committed and treating them with some empathy. Maybe if we turned out attention, time and energy away from quarreling over whether or not Scooter Libby got “justice” and towards the true atrocities in our world, such as the millions of people who go to bed hungry at night or without a roof over their head we could actually begin to make this world a better place. But, then again I’m an idealist!
Just so you know, PJ, this one WASN'T me. So someone else is reading.
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