Doing Justice and Granting Mercy

A President's pardon power is allowed under the US Constitution for two very specific reasons. First to do justice and second to grant mercy. The framers recognized that justice is sometimes strained, sometimes not given and sometimes misguided. They also recognized that there are times when mercy is called for even if guilt has been established. These are lofty and valuable thoughts and beliefs. There is a recognition that sometimes systems breakdown and don't work and also that there are times when mercy can and should be given.

Of course these were mere men, centuries ago. They were striving for an ideal and there were religious connotations associated with much of their work. Their's was an experiment that they fiercely debated and took a chance on. I doubt that they had any idea of how long things would last or how complicated the world and their country would become. Just like us, they weren't prepared for the likes of Donald Trump.

We have witnessed again why the choice of leaders is so important. Business leaders, church leaders, political leaders, community leaders - all are of critical importance. Clearly there have been tons of errors in the past in choosing leaders but it never hurts to try to understand what happened and why. Ethics and values are sometimes breached. Poor decision making takes a toll and leaders are removed and changed. Yes choosing leaders is no light task.

Justice is no light task either. There are hundreds of thousands of people right now suffering from injustice. Lives are being wasted in prison cells for minor infractions or due to poor and unfair representation. And there are more examples than prison. People being evicted from homes or businesses. People being discriminated against. People dying due to health system inequalities. No, justice is no light task.

All of this brings me back to Donald Trump's Presidential Pardon spree which is far from over. Doing justice and granting mercy would imply that the person doing these things is capable of understanding them. I don't believe Donald Trump has this capability. What we're seeing is get out of jail free cards for friends, loyalists, political cronies, grifters, war criminals and most likely family members. Justice and mercy are missing in the equation and in the meantime true justice and real mercy for people who deserve it is ignored.