It’s 2015.
And the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for President:
a. Have no political experience whatsoever (remember when they claimed Senator Obama wasn’t qualified for President because he had only been a “community organizer”?)
b. Are encouraging the kind of racism we thought all major politicians had run from since the 1960s
c. Are honestly claiming that perhaps we should make American Muslims have special IDs (perhaps maybe even a tattoo on their forearm?)
d. Proudly proclaim their hatred of science and spout out lies about everything from the economy to foreign policy when such lies are easily refuted
I mean, every time I thought that party could not stoop lower, I get surprised. It’s showing us the worst of America — the ugly, racist, stupid rich American that is the cliche of Americans in the rest of the world. And the Republicans are embracing it.
A week or so ago, I wrote about how it is important for those with integrity to call out those in their group who are not — how good lawyers need to weed out the bad ones, how good cops have to not cover up the excesses of the bad cops, how good Muslims must speak out against the evil ones.
And the same is true of Republicans. But I don’t see it. Where are the Republican leaders distancing themselves from the terrible things Trump is saying?
I have friends who used to be Republicans who now have left the party because of crap like this. But maybe they should instead be staying and fighting, and speaking out against the GOP leadership that allows and encourages this.
Anyway, it’s depressing. It’s why I haven’t posted anything in a while. I can’t make fun of something so over-the-top it looks like a satire already, and even though part of me is saying “Good, this means they’re going to lose in 2016” another part of me grieves for the loss of responsible politics.
I’m no foreign policy expert.
And neither are you.
One of the problems I have when discussing what to do about terrorism is precisely that: I don’t know. I don’t have the information and intelligence that the experts have access to, I don’t study the subject completely, and, as I said a few days ago, I can see that whatever the solution is, it’s not going to be easy and simple.
And that’s why I get so frustrated with people who “know” what we should do. Usually, it’s some variation of “Bomb them all” — which is what we have been doing. While some of it has been successful in removing important leaders, it also helps their recruitment and propaganda.
While I don’t know the best way to deal with this — even if there is a “best way” — I do know that turning away refugees is wrong.
“Hey, when we say ‘never again’ we didn’t really mean it…”
I don’t need to be a foreign policy expert there. I just need to have a heart.
The refugees are the ones running away from these fanatics. Most of them are educated, had jobs, and will be productive members of society. They’re just running away from war.
The recent attacks in Paris were performed by people who had already been in the country. All the evidence points away from the recent refugees.
Let’s face it, if some terrorist wants to commit these acts, they will find a way. They always do. Turning away people who need our help who are willing to obey our laws won’t matter to the terrorists. The only people we harm by turning our backs on the refugees are the ones who legitimately need our help.
Yes, Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern countries should be helping these refugees. But they’re not, because they’re the Bad Guys. Let’s not lower ourselves to their level.
As someone named Oliver Willis recently posted: “If only we had a seasonally appropriate story about middle eastern people seeking refuge and being turned away by the heartless…”
Look, there isn’t an easy answer. Stop trying to find one.
The more we attack ISIS, the more they get to recruit people by claiming we’re at war with Islam.
And if we don’t attack them, they’re just going to kill their own people and install their medieval ideas of religion on the area.
As human beings, we should accept the refugees running from such terror and help them.
However, some of them may be using this to gain entry to us and infiltrate from within.
If we target Muslims in our own country, not only are we doing exactly what they want, but we are going against everything we say we stand for.
There is no easy solution. “Bomb them all into oblivion” won’t work. “Ignore them” won’t work. “Outlaw Islam and round up all the Muslims” won’t work.
Anyone who argues for an easy “solution” should be ignored.
“Both Americans and Muslim friends and citizens, tax-paying citizens, and Muslims in nations were just appalled and could not believe what we saw on our TV screens,” said the President after this terrible attack.
“These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith. And it’s important for my fellow Americans to understand that.”
The President continued on, once more refusing to blame Muslims, saying “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war.”
Conservatives everywhere fumed, because he refused to lay the blame where it properly belongs: on the religion itself and the people who follow that religion. How dare the President not realize this!
Oh, wait. Hold on, my bad.
None of that happened.
Because these words aren’t from President Obama. They’re from President Bush, after the 9/11 attack.
Sorry. For some reason, I dunno, I thought maybe conservatives would be consistent in their views and not change them based simply on who was President.
Silly me.
Lawyers can be very hard on ourselves. We have tons of ethical rules we have to follow and classes we have to take each year. And lawyers who violate these rules can indeed lose their licenses. Sometimes it may be for a year, and sometimes for life — even when no actual crime has been committed.
Does this mean every bad lawyer gets punished? Of course not; obviously, some slip through the cracks. But lawyers are punished. Here in my area alone, I can think of half a dozen who have lost their licenses for one reason or another, including a few recent Judges and a District Attorney.
And that’s how we want it. We need people to trust us.
People often hate lawyers because lawyers by definition take a side and argue — which means that there are going to be people who don’t like what you are arguing. But almost everyone needs a lawyer at some point in their lives, and you want an honest and truthful one in those times.
And we lawyers need to be vigilant ourselves. At least a few times a year, I get a potential client who wants me to lie for him in some way. “I have a friend who will say I was in another place at the time” or “Yes, I did it, but I want to take the stand and say I didn’t do it” or even “The DA doesn’t know about my record in another state, so if the judge asks, say I don’t have a record.” Sometimes lawyers are removed because they do these dishonest things in order to win their case. (This goes for DAs who hide evidence as well, of course.)
And the police are in a similar situation.
Their job requires that the public believe that they are on our side — that they can be trusted. We should be saying “Oh, good, the police are here” and not be afraid of them.
But as we can see these days, that is often not the case. Despite the fact that the vast majority of police are good, decent, and honest people, they don’t have the support of much of the public because of the actions of some of them.
And that’s why it is imperative that the police police themselves — that they weed out the bad ones and don’t hide them behind the “Blue Wall.”
As you may guess, in my line of work, I have a lot of police officers I consider friends. They’re good people and I trust them. When we discuss a case we have together, I know that they aren’t hiding anything and that they can debate the crime without bias. They help me by being truthful and believable.
Then there are some that could say to me that the sky is blue and I’d go outside to look. And, not surprisingly, they have a reputation among the lawyers as someone whose word cannot be trusted. (Even the DAs will often agree with me when I tell them that the cop’s version of events isn’t true, because they can see it too.)
I am pleased to find that more and more DAs and police are prosecuting the bad cops these days. I give credit to the fact that everyone is carrying around a little movie camera, which makes it harder for a bad cop to lie about what happened.
But my point here is basically this: To keep your reputation, you need to distance yourself from those who would hurt it by association. This goes for everyone. If you’re a plumber, help expose the dishonest ones. If you’re a religious person, be sure to criticize and distance yourself from those of your religion that preach hate.
Set high standards, live up to them yourself, and do your best to make everyone else live up to them as well.
Protecting those who don’t means your own standards have been lowered.
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