It appears to be dawning (even on that minority of individuals who are enthusiastic supporters of Hillary Clinton), that the scandals surrounding her may never end: that the near weekly revelations of wrong doing which have dogged her since the start of her campaign for presidency are never ending, growing more complex, and involving more and more evidence of abuse of public office, of callous disregard for laws designed to protect intelligence operatives and information, and of chronic use of public office for private gain (e.g., the pay for play relationship with the Clinton Foundation). Indeed, given the never ending nature of the scandals, one would be hard pressed to think that she could manage the job of the presidency without constant distractions, let alone avoid the risk of impeachment. Atop it all, Hillary lies, condescendingly and often.
She assumes that the public will believe outright falsehoods if they come from her lips and are repeated prolifically rather than believe direct evidence to the contrary, which keeps rearing its ugly head in email after email. Because neither the FBI Director nor the Attorney General appear willing to make Hillary account for unlawful conduct, there is but one source of justice left: the electorate. Hillary’s gamble is that just as she was able to hoodwink the Obama Administration into allowing her to be above the law, so too will she be able to hoodwink the electorate into allowing her to escape responsibility for her actions in the presidential election. With each passing day of scandal, that hope appears to diminish in favor of justice, of a reckoning at the ballot box where voters of integrity will not allow their vote to elect the most corrupt politician in American history.
One of Hillary’s Democratic peers, Jimmy Carter, used to campaign pledging that he would “never lie to you.” Far from Hillary being able to make that pledge, most voters suspect that she may never tell America the truth. The parents of those slain in Benghazi have an exceptional reason to believe Hillary may never tell the truth.
Decades of corruption prove a pattern and the near weekly revelations of more wrong doing belie Hillary’s attempts to resurrect her character from the mire. No person can now vote for her without accepting that they are placing into the presidency the most corrupt politician in American history. It is that reality which most threatens her presidential ambitions. It is that reality which may well cause scores of Democrats of sound moral character to stay at home on election day, realizing the wisdom of that old adage, “If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.”
Those who vote for Hillary must accept responsibility for their vote, responsibility for the corruption that comes to the presidency if she is elected due to their action. Those who vote for Hillary must explain, at least to themselves, how it is that they can square their insistence on honesty, integrity, and lawful conduct in their daily lives with their vote for president.
When someone lies as often as Hillary Clinton has publicly (and when a person has been implicated in so many scandals as has she), no one can expect that person to become a model of honesty and incorruptibility in future. Because she has lied to the public so often, how is it that anyone can reasonably rely on her promises of government hand-outs or her promises that pander to one interest group or another? With Hillary, little, if anything, appears to be sacrosanct, not even the national security of the United States.
The ultimate problem for Hillary is that her false statements and her wrongful conduct all involve abuse of public office rather than private transgressions. Had her false statements not involved public office, they would assume less gravitas. The falsehoods, however, have been designed to cover up abuses of public office and public trust.
That renders them of paramount importance when voters contemplate putting her back in public office. She has yet to be punished in any way for her wrong doing, and she is betting on the old Clinton standard of political manipulation to keep her unaccountable under the law. Ironically, by enjoying the favor of those in office who have been willing to excuse her law violations without even so much as requiring her to face charges (charges that have resulted in the incarceration of people lacking her political clout), the Obama Administration has made the voting public the last best hope for justice. In November, the vote will likely be the only means by which those of integrity may compel Hillary Clinton to experience a moment of true justice. They may do so either by voting for her opponent or, if not, by staying home, but no possessed of integrity and a sense of justice should vote for Hillary Clinton.
© 2016 Jonathan W. Emord – All Rights Reserved
