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Guilt by Accusation Undermines America

 Article by Pat Boone (yes, the singer) in "Newsmax":
 
I don’t usually spout off in an angry tone like this — but I’m sick and tired — up to here — with this despicable, destructive, counter-productive, nation dividing name calling and libelous, criminal charges against public servants and elected officials — with no substantiation whatever.
 
Our culture, particularly our political culture, has seemingly deteriorated to such an amazingly biased and uncivil level that we don’t seem like America at this point!
 
Elected officials, sworn to actually uphold the Constitution and represent us in accordance with its dictates, are rushing to public forums and spouting harsh, unsubstantiated, lying attacks on other duly elected and appointed officials!
 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, eyes bulging with animosity and barely concealed hatred for her president, specifically accused him of asking the Ukranian president to “dig for dirt” on “an opposing candidate for his office”! The actual revealed transcript of the phone call in question reveals that all the president actually did and said — which as president of the United States he had every right, if not the duty, to do — was mention there was widespread concern about Hunter Biden’s use of his father’s position as Vice President to further his own financial goals, and that he’d appreciate whatever facts the Ukranian president could furnish him. That’s all he said.
 
For Pelosi to blatantly defame her president with false and libelous accusations is demeaning to her and her elected position as a Democratic leader. But the common consensus of opinion is that she is kowtowing to pressure from the new, ultraliberal representatives who have gained constant access and support from the equally rabid and prejudiced media.
 
The equally distressingly pop-eyed Rep. Adam Schiff, almost frothing at the mouth with obsessive determination to personally obtain the president’s impeachment, read a supposed transcript of the Ukranian phone call, in which he seemed to be quoting Trump as digging for dirt on whatever unethical things Biden and his son had tried, or words to that specific effect.
 
When confronted publically with the actual words of the transcript which revealed his lying account — Schiff tried to evade the truth of his audaciously false words by saying it was a "parody."
 
A “parody”?
 
It was more a tragedy — of the depth of sordid abandonment of truth and proper political maneuvering. It’s sleazy, it’s immature, and it’s obviously desperate. And it’s maddening.
 
And now, evidence, audio and visual, has been uncovered in which Adam Schiff himself is heard inviting supposed information, offered by a suspicious foreign party — the very thing he’s hounding and trying to convict Trump for!
 
Yes, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, before and after they both served in George Washington’s cabinet, manifested open dislike for each other, mainly based on opposing views of how a republic should function. But they were fundamentally gentlemen, and never openly disparaged or maligned each other. And never would either of them have stooped to “putting words in each other’s mouths” and deliberately misquoting things never spoken.
 
Yes, there was the abysmal McCarthy inquisition years ago, which started as investigation into embedded Communists in entertainment, media, and the Army itself — and degenerated into “guilt by accusation” which smeared anybody even accused of being "fellow travelers." It got so bad that just to be called before the McCarthy committee to be questioned was seen by too many as a “guilty sentence.” It was carried on television and the whole country was treated to a wholesale travesty of justice, the scrapping of “innocent 'til proven guilty.”
 
Finally, in a dramatic moment of showdown, as McCarthy himself was being treated to his own kind of grilling, on June 9, 1954, by renowned counsel for the U.S. Army, the Senator, sweating and squirming and uncomfortable (soon to die), withered under the scorn of Atty. Joseph Welch.
 
“Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last—have you left no sense of decency?”
 
That question rang through the courtroom and echoed across the country. The good people of America, still possessed of a sense of decency, a deep sense of propriety and fairness, made up their minds.
 
They’d had enough — enough, they said — of groundless accusations and guilty verdicts and condemnation without any proof whatever. The investigation was over. But the lingering convictions-by-smear had ruined many careers and reputations.
 
Two fine men sit today on the Supreme Court, duly selected, appointed and approved by Congress, still bearing invisible mud and blame and soiled reputations caused by claims that were never found to be true. It’s unfair, it’s unjust, it’s way beneath the way responsible citizens are meant to act — and our young people are the worst victims, even more than the vilified justices.
 
They’ve lost all confidence in our government, our democratic way of life and almost all of our elected public servants. They understandably infer that "they’re all crooks, you can’t trust any of ‘em. Why vote or take part in the political system at all?"
 
And who can blame them? Shame on all of us for not demanding that public figures throttle their own anger and frustration at opposing views, and argue reasonably on policy and facts, not devolving to mindless mudslinging and smear tactics.
 
I myself have had occasion to privately urge our president to adopt the example set by Ronald Reagan, who when making his policy points firmly, with reason and occasional humor, still showed respect for his opponents. The result was that, even when some disagreed with his policies, they liked him — and could respect and honor him when he won.
 
The Bible soberly warns, “Judge not. For with the judgement you judge — you shall be judged.”
 
We Americans, who still have the final say, must absolutely demand that the mudslinging and mindless smearing stop … lest our blessed republic itself be smeared beyond redemption.
 
 
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