This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Prayer for unity

Contemporary American society is increasingly polarized, and with violence escalating all over this country, there is a need as perhaps never before for unity. Black lives matter. Blue lives matter. All lives matter. We must learn to live together in peace, and that will not happen without justice and reconciliation. So it is that the Beloved Community Paired Clergy and the Mayor’s Council of Clergy have obtained permission to use the chambers of the Macon-Bibb Commissioners’ Chambers in the Government Center (former City Hall) to call for a community-wide prayer meeting this week, Thursday, July 21, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Local citizens are asked to come show our support for the embattled African American community and our dedicated law enforcement officials alike. Come join us in prayer for unity, justice, reconciliation and healing.

Baggage?

If Hillary Clinton is elected president, she will be a “lame duck” during her entire term of office. FBI Director James Comey did a terrible disservice to his country, his bureau and himself when he stated his personal opinion that Secretary Clinton ought not to be prosecuted for violation of national security laws after she stored top-secret classified documents on her insecure personal email server. His laundry list of her illegal activities has convicted her in the court of public opinion and strengthened the general mistrust of her personal competency and ethical standards that will follow her throughout her political career. Do we really need a president with that much (and more) excess baggage?

Honest Hillary

The current hysterical demand to prosecute Hillary Clinton for improper handling of email seems, well, hysterical. It begs a number of questions. Clinton served as secretary of state from 2009 through 2013. Amazingly over the entire four years, no one — not Republicans, high level law enforcement officials, friends — noticed that her e-mail arrangements were inappropriate. This horrific “crime” only came to light in the thirteenth published report concerning the Benghazi tragedy. None of these, despite desperate Republican efforts, found her at fault, but the final one did show that she used a personal server for her email.

An FBI investigation and a flood of right-wing outrage ensued. FBI Director James Comey, a Republican, denounced her for carelessness that put secret information at risk of being hacked. His numbers show that there was sensitive material in three one-thousandths (.003 with the percent rounded up for ease of calculation), and, as reported by the Daily Kos, Comey acknowledged in his testimony to Congress that the information in question was not designated as sensitive. He admitted that it was perfectly plausible she did not know the messages contained anything secret. He was not gracious enough to add another truth. If she did not know there were secrets, her assertions that there was no secret information in her email was what she honestly believed at the time. Was Clinton without fault? No. Was that fault the egregious crime charged by her foes? No.

For perspective, one might think of other misstatements, even lies, from the nation’s leaders that might be damned as having threatened our interests. The phony claims of weapons of mass destruction that were the basis of the Iraq War come to mind. These resulted in 46,378 American casualties and a cost $1.7 trillion, which may grow to as much as $6 trillion, and fostered the conditions that led to the growth of ISIS. So far even the right-wing attack dogs can only say that Clinton’s carelessness made it possible that secret information might have been compromised. So in perspective, does Clinton’s error seem devastating? No, it does not.

Finally and fortunately, there is an independent evaluation of Clinton’s probity. Late in the primary campaigns, the political watchdog group PolitiFact evaluated the campaign assertions of the major candidates. Clinton’s campaign was found to mostly or entirely accurate slightly more that 75 percent of the time. In second place was Sen. Bernie Sanders whose campaign got the same rating slightly less than 50 percent of the time. Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz — well, one knew they were lying if their lips were moving. Isn’t it odd that “Lying Hillary” has run far and away the most honest campaign?

Civility gone

I am a 65 year old white male who was raised in the inner city of Philadelphia in the 1950s and ’60s. My parents instruction concerning how to react when stopped by a policeman, whether walking or in a vehicle, was very similar to Wynston Wilcox. Comply immediately with whatever commands/instructions the officer gives. Behave respectfully and answer any questions he may ask you even if you did not do anything wrong. There was a good bit of gang activity in my neighborhood (although guns at that time were not as prevalent as bricks, bottles, clubs, knives and mostly fists) so it was not uncommon for me and/or friends to be stopped, questioned and occasionally frisked. Discretion was definitely the better part of valor, as some of my more confrontational friends discovered the hard and painful way. Not only was I taught to respect those in official positions of authority (policeman, teachers, etc.) but any adult in my neighborhood had the implied authority to address inappropriate behavior (verbally, not physically; that was left to my dad) and receive the same respect. I am thankful for the wise instruction that I was given in those formative years and still endeavor to heed them to this day, even when most officers are about half my age, it’s still “yes sir, no sir.”

I have been living in Middle Georgia since the Air Force brought me here in 1970 and refer to myself as a Northerner by birth but a Southerner by choice because there was a level of general civility between people down here that I was unaccustomed to back home and I readily appreciated. Sadly many of the good traditions of the South have been lost along with some of the bad. It hurts my heart to see the disrespect so many young people today show not only toward their elders and authorities but to themselves and their peers. I hope and pray that our civil, spiritual and familial leaders continue to endeavor to reverse the current decline of civility and morals among our youth by example and instruction.

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, July 19, 2016."