Immorality vs Ignorance

I grew up in conditions that were simultaneously privileged and oppressive. I saw and experienced much that was unjust and hurtful, and treating others well has always been important to me. Wrong, as I understand it, has nothing to do with veniality. I am a venial failure, and have indulged myself in many ways. Wrong to me, is to deliberately hurt others, to profit from hurting others, to conceal or distort Truth for your own gain. These acts, not venial indulgence, constitute immorality, as I use the term. Veniality is an injury to the body, but immorality is an injury to your soul, and to others as well.

I try to treat people well, to not allow society’s wrongs to allow me to be immoral and manipulative. In part this is simply good manners, in part my personal undoing of the wrongs done by others, and in large part what I do so I can tolerate myself at night. I am unwilling to deliberately hurt others for gain, or to distort reality for my own good. And, like the Honor Code at The Citadel, morality and honor as I understand them require not simply that I not do these things, but also that I not tolerate them in others.

A major part of moral behavior is the faithful fulfillment of obligations to others. This applies to private obligations, but far more so to public ones. A person with fiduciary responsibility is required to give a full and complete accounting. Any public servant, anyone with a responsibility to others, must be able and willing to present a full and immediate record of their actions. Not delayed, not edited, not summarized. In my own profession, I provide medical records on the spot to anyone who asks. No fees, no delays, no alterations. If you want to see what I have written I will show it to you in the office. That is my responsibility not just to insurers, or even to the patient, but to myself.

These standards apply to politics more than any other sphere. National leadership carries a fiduciary responsibility to the entire nation, not yourself. There is much being made of the inadequacy of both our presidential candidates in this regard. There is in this an equating of  the misdeeds of Clinton and Trump. Indeed, Trump is portrayed as a buffoon- ignorant, loud-mouthed, insensitive. Clinton’s wrongs are downplayed, it being pointed out she was not indicted for a crime and therefore is not a criminal. In doing this, society is conflating boorishness with immorality.

Trump is indeed an ignorant boor, but it is Clinton who is immoral. As a public servant Clinton went out of her way to keep a private email system, when there ought not to be such a thing. She edited and destroyed thousands of emails before turning the server over to the government despite multiple requests. She repeatedly lied in public about her actions. When aides were questioned special arrangements were made with prosecutors to avoid certain topics. She has a foundation that accepted money from countries with whom she dealt as an official representative of the United States. She makes speeches for outrageous fees to groups with policy influence and will not disclose the contents. In one instance after another Clinton has served herself, deliberately misled the public, or allowed others to be harmed while lying. These acts are the very definition of immorality, as I understand it.

Society and our media enable this by making excuses for her behavior. Articles use misleading headlines to obfuscate- Clinton never lied to the FBI. No, she lied to everyone else, but that’s OK because every politician lies. Politicians do indeed lie regularly; however, there is a conflation of fact error, omission and deliberate malfeasance in the word ‘lie’. There is a false equation between wrong facts, and actions harming others, between bad manners, and bad intent. Fatuous measures of ‘truth’ are used to show Clinton doesn’t lie as much as Trump, when Clinton refuses to talk about her misbehaviors, saying they are in the past.

Even professional baseball doesn’t accept such an excuse. How abased our society is that we will accept it! People read misleading, exculpatory articles and nod their heads. In fact we are doing nothing but enabling and condoning immorality. We are complicit in our own destruction. The press worries that Trump will end the world by being irresponsible with nuclear weapons and completely ignores the destruction of our national character represented by Clinton. A president has many layers of advisors for actions, but no mirror for character, and no brake on its expression. It is the character I fear far more than the ignorance.

And so we have an immoral candidate who is being enabled and excused by the media, and whose wrongdoing is casually accepted by a glassy-eyed public. But everyone who enables and condones this behavior is themselves immoral, and I want nothing to do with them. There is nothing to talk about, no negotiation or compromise, not over policies but character. Clinton is immoral, no matter how competent, or experienced, or unindicted. No matter how ignorant or rude, any candidate is superior to the deliberate approval of an immoral one.

Thomas Jefferson said ‘I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.’ I agree with this. We may debate policy without rancor, but on morals there is no compromise. It is never acceptable to hurt others or profit by making other suffer. My feelings on this make it impossible for me to continue to read or reply to many posts on Facebook but I will continue to post my thoughts here, and give notice in social media, and am always happy to receive comments here.

Ted