Al Franken Fed to the Wolves

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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