Al Franken
is out. He volunteered to be thrown off
a cliff. Now, this gives me one less
liberal, or ‘progressive’, that will give this gastroenterologist
heartburn. However, as a man who does
his best to use honest weights and measures, I find his ouster to be deeply
troubling. This was not the senate’s
finest hour.
What caused
the stampede of his fellow Democrats last month to demand his ouster? Yes, there were new allegations, but they
didn’t seem to be qualitatively different from the prior ones. What pushed a
largely silent Democratic caucus into a chorus of indignation? Was this fair?
'Mmmm, that was tasty!'
If the charges
against him – which he largely denies – are true, then he was clearly a
sophomoric boor, who behaved improperly during his prior career as an
irreverent comedian. While his prior
actions were offensive and wrong, I don’t think he merits being swept into the
expanding cesspool of sexual harassers – men who preyed upon women using their
positions of power to commit repugnant actions.
Such men deserve appropriate punishment and public opprobrium.
While I
fully support the current movement to achieve a true reckoning, I am concerned
about the lack of uniform standards and fairness. With Franken, for example, there was a rush
to judgment as a mob of Democrats tripped over each other as they raced for the
microphones to denounce him.
I am sure
that when I hung out with the guys in college that I was present and
participated in conversations that if publicized now would not show me to be
the enlightened individual that I claim to be today. Am I unfit to serve as
physician today? Dredging up gutter talk
and boorish behavior in a past life shouldn’t disqualify a person from his job
or his place in society.
I worry that
Franken’s political demise has lowered the standard for tolerable behavior to
an extent that legislators’ positions and everyone’s jobs are vulnerable for
minor offenses that are alleged to have occurred either on the job or
previously. Could a senator now be
brought down by a few lurid accusations that may be unproven or might even
originate with the political opposition?
For those
who somehow don’t know where the boundaries of decency lie, we need uniform
standards in place. All offenses are not
equal and should not be treated as such.
While we properly target sexual harassment for extinction, we should
remain true to our cherished principles of a presumption of innocence and due
process. If you were charged with
committing disgraceful acts, and you were innocent, wouldn’t you want a fair
opportunity to defend yourself?
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