Finneran: Jesse Jackson is Right
Friday, November 25, 2016
Jesse Jackson is right.
Hillary Clinton should be pardoned.
And if President Obama won’t do it, President-Elect Donald Trump should do it. In fact, it would be better by far if the President-Elect took the initiative on this. He should promise it now, during the transition, sparing President Obama the political controversy. He should then do it on his first day in office as President.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe issue is not about Hillary Clinton’s guilt or innocence. It’s about our country. Our country does not need an ugly trial. It needs wise leadership. Our country does not need a primal scream for a cruel and agonizing “justice”. It needs a very strong measure of Judeo-Christian mercy.
Whatever Hillary’s crimes may have been---if any---a bitter, ugly, and inevitably partisan multi-month trial serves no healthy purpose. It may soothe political vampires taste for blood. It will not reduce the nation’s high fevers.
In one fell swoop President-Elect Trump could astound his critics and establish himself as a notably fallen but admirably moral and forgiving man.
America is not the Third Reich or the Soviet Union. America is not Communist China. Nor should we ever mimic those despotic nations. America need not adopt the ugly vengeful habit of political show trials. Our already out-of-control criminal justice system needs no winking encouragement or explicit direction to become the Javert-like judge of acceptable behavior.
Once upon a time, a short while ago, Republicans and Democrats in Congress recognized and rectified one of the worst abuses of political power in our nation’s history. I speak of the lunatic embrace of “special prosecutors”, an embrace too slowly rued by too many of our elected leaders. Special prosecutors had frightful powers---unlimited budgets, unlimited personnel, unlimited scope of inquiry, no executive check or balance, no legislative check or balance, no time restraints on their “investigations”, all of which led to the multi-year psychological, spiritual, and financial persecution of too many American citizens. This, of course, differed little if any from formalized torture.
These persecutions were visited upon both Republicans and Democrats in a vicious tit-for-tat gutter-like pursuit of cheap political advantage. These investigations were indeed persecutions. And they were based on a distrust of the criminal justice system’s politicization. That distrust may have some obvious merit. But the solution to such politicization lies in elections. The solution does not lie in the appointment of prosecutorial dictators whose sole charge is to “get someone”. The American Revolution was fought over such ugly tyrannies.
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?” asked the wise Romans. “Who will guard against the guardians?” Always, always, always beware the guardians. The Romans knew of the abuse of their guardians. As did the soldiers of Valley Forge.
Regarding Hillary Clinton, let the facts speak for themselves. It was terribly foolish, selfish, and reckless to cut the corners of national security protocols concerning emails. It very likely endangered our intelligence agents and operations. Whatever her motives may have been---personal convenience, a desire to evade FOIA demands, a determination to avoid scrutiny and criticism---there is nothing to be gained and much to be lost by a criminal trial. The country’s anguish would be horribly destructive. We already suffer from too little political civility and too much political hyperbole. Might we consider simple mercy?
Hillary is an aging mother and grandmother. She is never going to jail. She will live every day with a heavy sense of loss. There is no more punishment to be exacted upon her, for her errors were self-inflicted errors. That mirror on the wall will sit in daily judgment.
As for the deterrent effect of a trial, it is utterly inconceivable that any future office holders would decide to utilize private home-based email servers in an attempt to skirt national security rules. The whole world is aware of Hillary’s blunder. No one will entertain a repeat performance.
Congressional Republicans should sense the danger of a criminal prosecution. They should swim away from the lustful appeal of Hillary’s blood in the water. Frenzy will not serve them well. Rather, a well-balanced focus on President-Elect Trump’s announced priorities---veterans’ health care, national infrastructure, tax reform, etc.---would allow them to demonstrate to a vast segment of the American electorate that they are worthy of the serious office they now hold.
We are about to enter a season of celebration. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanza all celebrate in different ways the ties of faith, family, friends, neighbors, and community. The season should always be elevated above the merely material pleasures of giving and receiving gifts.
Kindness, conciliation, forgiveness, and mercy, of course, need no particular season. And such qualities have always been a part of America’s DNA.
Charity to others is saintly. And we are in desperate need of saints.
Jesse Jackson is right. Pardon, Hillary Clinton.
It’s time to heal our wounds.
Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.
Related Slideshow: FBI Clinton Notes - September, 2016
Related Articles
- Finneran: America’s Lost Sense Of Wonder
- Finneran: Not Black, Not White, Just Sweet
- Finneran: I Am Woman…...Hear Me Roar, 2016
- Finneran: Trump Beats Trump
- Finneran: August Prime
- Finneran: Women’s Work
- Finneran: Brexit Hysteria
- Finneran: Those Presidential Debates
- Finneran: The Gorilla, The Lion, And Human Suffering
- Finneran: My Brother’s Funeral
- Finneran: School’s Out For Summer!
- Finneran: A Glorious Decade
- Finneran: Pokemon Go—-Go Far Far Away
- Finneran: Notwithstanding Trump V. Clinton
- Finneran: Trump As Symptom
- Finneran: That Was Then, This is Now
- Finneran: Three Powerful Words
- Finneran: One Nation—Many Cultures/ One Nation—Many Tongues - Part 1
- Finneran: Blessings And Curses
- Finneran: The Bucket List
- Finneran: Found - A Grown-Up on Campus
- Finneran: Hurricane Hermine, Lights Out!
- Finneran: Chicago Weeps
- Finneran: Clinton V. Trump, A Debate Preview
- Finneran: One Nation/Many Cultures—One Nation/Many Tongues - Part 2
