Political quagmire way too muddled

As an adult and the grandparent of six grandchildren, I can only wish my sons and daughters-in-law the best of luck as they try to explain what is moral and ethical behavior. Can you imagine -- or maybe you have tried -- trying to explain our political world today?

Just trying to explain the fact that it is okay to tell a lie, just don't lie to the FBI. What is apparently acceptable in the world of politics will get you prosecuted for perjury if you lie under oath, but Mrs. Clinton was not under oath the day she met with the FBI -- or was she? How in the world do you and I, the little insignificant non-Washington insiders, know what to believe?

FBI Director James Comey summed up the investigation into candidate and former Secretary of State Clinton's "email/classified information" scandal with a very sincere news conference by saying the FBI would not recommend prosecution to the Justice Department -- no sane (read politically savvy) prosecutor would attempt to bring charges against Mrs. Clinton since there was no "intent" on her part to disseminate classified material. The fact that she might have risked our national security to protect the Clinton Foundation's connections was not discussed during Mr. Comey's news conference. There was no doubt that Mr. Comey chose his words very carefully during his statement.

It sounds like this issue was simply too politically hot to handle without long term ramifications for the Democratic Party. FBI Director Comey was very careful in his news conference to phrase his comments so they could be used to find Mrs. Clinton guilty in the mind of the listener or just slightly careless if one wanted to believe she did nothing wrong. If we lacked faith in our government before, the investigation into the email question and the final report, and the lack of follow-up in the Bengazi affair has all the earmarks of a double standard for Washington insiders.

No one knows what the elections in November will produce, but if there is a way to break up the political networking that protects those in the inner circle and keeps them in office, I vote for it. The past week has made Donald Trump a much more palatable candidate in my eyes, not because I believe in his promises of walls, tariffs and other blue-sky dreams, but he does appear to be independent enough to bring about change as he promised. Change of some kind appears pretty good right now.

Bernie Sanders, my favorite Independent, had some rather wild ideas about free college tuition, healthcare and other impossible programs, but he had my support for his under-dog approach of reaching out to the real grass roots crowd and getting people involved in the process. I am not sure he is going to just disappear even after the Democratic Convention. I heard him promise to "continue to try" to bring about change which I believe he will do and there is absolutely no evidence that candidate Clinton will even try to change Washington's self-serving mentality.

It is difficult to believe we are in the political mess we have created for ourselves. When being a television celebrity, such as Donald Trump, is more meaningful to the voters than having run a successful state government such as numerous governors have done, we have focused too much on television ratings and too little on leadership in the real world. Can you imagine what history 50 years from now is going to say about events today?

Do you suppose the history books will look favorably on the former President Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch meeting in a private airplane in an impromptu discussion about family and social issues, etc., with no political discussion? Do you suppose all these coincidences will make it into the history books or will our society have accepted the fact that some extra-terrestrial force must have sent the Clinton dynasty into the world to save it?

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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.

Editorial on 07/13/2016