Fear of Baggage

There has always been inequity in judgment.  Some are judged more severely than others while some are given a pass for gross misconduct.  Within the scope of a democracy and our responsibility for self rule the level of inequity must be managed more carefully.

How we manage these affairs has to transcend the political and has to be enacted despite the influential and powerful.  Due Process has recently come under direct attack when specific individuals, not convicted, are held in contempt of their inalienable rights.   Despite how you stand on the issue of these rights and the fears you may have in regards to the risks of maintaining these freedoms the loss of these basic and fundamental rights will severely damage our future rights and our eventual rights to maintain freedom.

My fears are real in relation to how Islamic terrorist may effect our lives.  When a lone gunman can enter a club, any club, and take the lives of innocent patrons while screaming Allah Akbar and proclaiming allegiance to ISIS the reality of the war against our freedoms is real.  The question is do we acquiesce against that threat by moving in the direction planned by our attackers or do we remain strong regardless of the threat?

Those fundamental freedoms are more important than the individual lives lost in almost any instance.  This may sound harsh but why is it that over the years so many have died defending our way of life?  Is our way really that much better so we would send our sons, our fathers and now even our daughters to war?

Not all wars are as justified as others and it is obvious that many lives have been lost due to the political motivations rather than the more important and fundamental spiritual aspects of freedom.  The need to define freedom is essential if we are going to defend its precepts.  What are we free from?  Is our freedom more important that others perspective of freedom and how does our freedoms affect the world today?

Being free from physical and mental restraint is perhaps the easiest definition to begin with.  It’s easy to define freedom in these terms but what about those earlier religious freedoms or the freedom of speech or thought?  If I want to be free I have to allow all to be free around me.  More often we look at our freedoms as a guide to manage the freedoms of others while forgetting that when we limit their choices and lifestyles we curtail our own.

The concept of freedom has been a current political matter as well.  Donald Trump followed the rules to the point of winning the Republican nomination for president but because others do not like what he says or how he says things they want to change the rules and in essence stop his run for office.

A similar but opposite situation is occurring within the Clinton camp.  Hillary in almost every instance has broken the law.  The evidence is clear with both sides admitting that she “broke the rules” and those rules caused her emails and server to be vulnerable to outside sources.  She then deleted those emails making the process of discovery more difficult, especially in relation to who may have accessed those emails and documents. 

Ignorance is not a crime unto itself but the results of that ignorance does have consequences .  The risks to our national security because of those secretes being exposed to other countries is very high.  It may take years to fully understand the scope of damage and the risk of blackmail.  Simply put had she followed the rules we would not be having this conversation.

Her responsibility in this matter is beyond question but her punishment for her lack of responsibility is and that’s where the inequity comes into play.  Politics aside, what she did was wrong and she deserves to be punished.  When you compare the costs others have paid for exposing our country to outside influences you can see the sever inequity of our system due to political power and the power of influence rather than the universal process due all men and women within this country. 

Due process works both ways and should rule over Hillary just as it did with Edward Snowden, Thomas Drake and John Kiriakou — three whistleblowers all charged under the Espionage Act.  These men acted in good faith and wanted to make changes to an ineffective and dangerous process of secretes and were punished as a result. 

George Portrayus was also given a light sentence of two years probation and a fine for allowing his biographer to access his email.  If Hillary was given the least of these punishments I wonder if she would be eligible to run for president, many think not.

When the rich and powerful are given a pass for egregious acts then the fundamental process of freedom is in serious jeopardy.  Like the kings and rulers of the past the separation between the powerful and the connected create a gap of not only opportunity but a deficit in the overall morality for all those under those that lead. 

Bill Clinton represented our country as our president and with one act of immorality created the impression for all  Americans that engaging in oral sex was not really sex.  The consequences of his Oval Office tryst directly correlates with the rise in sexual promiscuity of the youth during the remainder of his presidency and today.

As a Republic we have the serious obligation of holding our leaders responsible for what they do and do not do.  Hillary wants to lead but she does not want to lead by example, she simply wants to lead.  If she were a “good” leader she would show us her resolve by admitting to what she did, accepting the consequences of her actions and step down as a contender for the presidency.   That will obviously never happen.  But we can unite as a people and demand “good” leadership, or we can follow our leaders and be subjected by their selfish will and demands for more and more power, generally in the form of raised taxes and controls.  

And then there was Trump.  You can like him or dislike him, you can believe he is our economic savior or you can think him to be the biggest snake oil salesman in history but he is not Hillary and he did not risk our sovereignty.  If you think Hillary is a better leader then you must demand that she act like a leader and lead.  Trump is leading, in his way and has not hidden in any way what he is or who he is.  We all know the kind of man Trump, there is no mystery there.

With Hillary we have the mystery surrounded by the unknown wrapped by the paper of lies that have surrounded her and her husband since their days in Arkansas.   We know who she is as well by the mysteries that surround her and the failed policies that she has agreed too and supported.

Under Obama and Hillary (secretary of state) the unemployment in this country has remained very high with over 90 million workers left out of the statistics because they stopped looking for work.  When tabulated correctly with the available workers and those who are under employed or unemployed, the true measure of our economic strength is closer to 26% unemployment.  Look around your neighborhood and tell me you can’t see the struggles that are still raging around this country.

The cost of insurance has skyrocketed, especially in relation to the care currently provided.  The hope of America has been significantly damaged and any hope in the future should not come from the same party that put us there.  For the past seven and a half years we have gone from marginal to bad and all our leaders, both Democrats and Republicans can do is lie about the issues and what they have done to serve us.

Hillary will be nothing more than an extension of Obama and with Obama came the nightmare that is our economy and continuation of our economic decline.  I’m not saying that Trump is significantly better, know one really knows, but at least we can start over and start with a new hope of promise from someone who has a track record of success….

For Hillary maybe it’s time to judge her as equitably as she deserves rather than the pass that so many willing to provide, just because she is a woman or a Clinton, that at least should be a serious consideration.