Deplorable Politics

I found the recent comments of the Democratic presidential nominee, lumping millions of people into a "basket of deplorables", to be extremely troubling. Her explanation and "apology" was even more troubling.

Certainly racism and xenophobia are deplorable attitudes, but Clinton's comments went beyond that to call millions of people themselves deplorable. That is the closest thing to hate speech I have ever heard from a presidential candidate. And this was not just a slip of the tongue or momentary lapse in judgement - she had obviously used that term repeatedly and was comfortable including it in a public forum, albeit one that was friendly to her agenda.

The terms "sexist", "homophobic" and "Islamophobic" are even more troubling, especially in the context of her highly-publicized speech, because they are highly subjective terms depending on the perception of the audience. I suspect many of those agreeing with her sentiment would consider those with traditional views of marriage and concerns about the rise of Islamic radicalism to be in that "basket".

Mrs. Clinton tried to minimize the political damage by suggesting that it was a mistake to say "half of Trump supporters are in that basket". The number is irrelevant; what is troubling is the idea that anyone could be lumped into this category of "deplorables", as if they could just be carted away and society would be better off without them.

How long does it take to turn a "basket of deplorables" 

into a "boxcar of deplorables"?

The elitist attitude that certain groups of people are "deplorable", combined with a consensus that certain difficulties are caused by these "deplorables" soon results in attacks, social stigmas, and sometimes acts of genocide. Thank God this has not happened in America, but the direction of politics in this country is certainly pointing down this dark path, arguably on both sides of the aisle.

Can this country be healed of its deep divisions? I'm pretty certain the answer will not be found in politics, though politics can certainly make it worse. No, the answer can only come from God, through the love that only the presence of Christ can impart in our hearts toward one another.

We should each ask the question, am I infected with hatred toward others based on their political views? Can I forgive my brother, even as I need forgiveness daily myself? God have mercy on us and revive our spirits to call on the Name of Jesus for deliverance!

The Misconception of Mrs. Clinton

I would like to comment on a misconception regarding Hillary Clinton. The recently concluded FBI investigation found evidence that she and her colleagues "were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information." Mrs. Clinton said that this was a mistake in judgment she made for the sake of convenience while running the State Department.

The misconception is that Mrs. Clinton is careless and naive concerning her handling of government secrets. Nothing could be further from the truth. "Reckless disregard for the security of the nation" might be a more accurate description of her conduct. Both she and her husband are extremely intelligent and careful people regarding legal matters, and she took extraordinary measures to keep her communications outside of government purview. Remember that she had months of stalling before turning over the servers that had "somehow been wiped" and had "hard drive failures", so basically the FBI was dealing with only the information she allowed them to see.

The Clintons are Masters of Misdirection. In this case, the misdirection was the embarrassing but not quite incriminating revelation that she compromised top-secret government communications by using personal email servers. That was an enticing bone to throw to the investigators, but it also threw them off the trail of the more important case involving the use of her position in government to solicit donations from foreign sources that would create dangerous conflicts of interest as a top-level cabinet officer and possible future president of the U.S.

Before the more important investigation could occur, the press and the public will lose interest, partly because it is a more complicated story, partly because the real cover-up has been much more effective in this case, and partly because the public and the media will simply become "fatigued" by the constant investigations.

These are the active ingredients in the slick legal coating that covers the Clinton family. Just as the salacious Lewinsky scandal misdirected the media from the story of abuse of executive power to focus on the naughty details of Bill Clinton's personal life, even so the email scandal has been used to change the narrative from corrupt and dangerous liaisons with foreign officials to a so-called careless handling of government emails.

Please understand that if elected, these donations will affect Mrs. Clinton's decisions regarding energy policy and our handling of terrorism and national defense, among a host of other important national issues. And with one pending Supreme Court appointment and possibly two others arising during the next presidential term, along with her husband's earlier federal court appointments, the Clinton family will have complete legal cover for their future actions in the White House.

This next election is NOT about whether we should have the "first female president in American history", or even about electing someone with a better presidential resume. This is about protecting the integrity of our federal government and the future of the republic for which it stands. Our children deserve to inherit a functional democracy as our founders intended, not one that is rigged and corrupted by a family of professional lawyers who know how to dance around the edges of the law.