AND SO IT BEGINS

Of all the problems that plague our government, none infuriates me more than the "Pardon Season". Although Presidents typically pardon people throughout their terms, controversial pardons are usually avoided until this time of year. This is the part of the election cycle that America suffers a "lame duck" President. That is, a President who is nearly powerless, but has nothing to fear from voters. He doesn't fear the voters because he's already been voted out or termed out and his Party has two years before another election. Let's face it, no one can ever remember who any President ever pardoned anyway, much less two years later. The Pardon Season starts sometime just after the Presidential election cycle and can last right up to the very last day of the departing President's reign. Each departing President tries his best to do this outrageous act in a way that draws as little attention as possible. Maybe during a hot news day, or after a major sporting event.

Today the Bush Administration released a list of 14 people who would be the recipients of a Presidential Pardon from George W. Bush. Including these pardons, he has now granted a total of 171 pardons and eight commutations. Conveniently, this list was release at the same time that every journalist was covering Barack Obama's announcement that his new economic team would include Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers. Yes, the same Larry Summers that I wrote about a while back who lost his job as Harvard's President because he had the nerve to suggest that women might just not be interested in becoming engineers. That infuriated the leftists at Harvard who demanded, and got, his resignation. Despite that, it appears Obama is unconcerned that the press will make an issue of his appointing a known sexist. My guess is that he's right, since the press always seems to be far more forgiving to the Dems for acts of racism or sexism. But back to Bush.

Bush's pardons so far are in line with the usual lame duck pardons. A bunch of rich people, a bunch of well connected people. Each has fought long and hard to make their way on to the list. Whether it's Republicans or Democrats doing the pardoning, you can rest assured that each pardon is represented by sizable donations to the President's campaign or his soon to be constructed Presidential library. Clinton pardoned domestic terrorists along with an assortment of white collar criminals and drug dealers and George H.W. Bush pardoned his Iran-Contra buddies and a long list of white collar criminals, both sides abuse this loophole terribly. Among Bush's recent pardons were for 3 people who committed various types of bank fraud, a women who committed medical insurance fraud, a couple of drug dealers and even a killer of bald eagles.

So how do we stop this abuse of power?

First, there should be no lame duck pardons at all! All pardons should be given out before Oct. 1 of their last year in office. That way the press has time to publish all their pardons and let the voters take it out on their candidate or party. This system of allowing criminals to buy or barter their way out of their convictions through lobbyists or personal connections is a form of nepotism and elitism that we should all be trying to limit in our government. Government is a service to one's country, not a position of power to shield one's friends and relatives. Presidents, Senators, House Representatives and Governors all abuse this power for their own benefit and it's time to make it so that it's also at their own peril. Justice can never be completely equal, but it is what we should all strive for. H.C.