When I was an educator there were moments when I had to make difficult decisions regarding how to react to egregious behavior from my students. Sometimes it was not particularly hard to determine how to handle a student who had continuously flaunted the rules. It was when a student who seemed to be successfully working to overcome incredible obstacles chose to do something truly horrific that I felt a sense of failure on my own part. Nonetheless I always understood that it was important to mete out just consequences without favoritism. To do any less would send a message that I was hypocritical when it came to fairly holding everyone responsible for their actions.
There was a time when one of my favorite students stole a test from one the teachers and then had the audacity to attempt to make copies to hand out to his friends. The young man was bright and so charismatic that he won an election to be the president of the student body. When a few honorable students stepped forward to reveal the truth of his theft there was no question in my mind that he needed to be stripped of his office even as it made me sick to do so.
One of the things that has bothered me the most about many politicians is that they often get away with flaunting their misdeeds. Some of the best years of my life came when Bill Clinton was president. I voted for him twice. When the sordid details of his affair with an intern came out I lost the respect that I once had for him. I thought that it was just that he was impeached by the House of Representatives.
In the present day we have a president who has been found guilty of sexually abusing a woman to whom he must now pay a stiff fine. By his own admission he bragged about being able to grab women by their private parts simply because he was famous. He ran around with Epstein for years and cheated on all three of his wives and yet the Republican party scoffs at the idea of asking him to pay for his vile mistreatment of women. Presently they are doing everything they can to keep the Epstein files under wraps.
In my own state Ken Paxton, a vile man who has been accused of taking bribes and having multiple affairs is the Republican candidate for the Senate. Recently he was in London with his mistress at the same time that he was questioning the religious beliefs of his opponent and parading his own faith as something deep and spiritual.
I mention these things because the good Democrat citizens of Maine are faced with an ethical dilemma. There have been many whispers about their candidate for the Senate, Graham Platner. Now at the eleventh hour a former girlfriend has stepped forward with accusations that he raped her. Certainly there should be some kind of attempt to find the truth before he is found guilty but the problem is that many disturbing issues about Platner have been raised. This is just the worst of the lot and there is no time for having any kind of full blown trial. It seems that Platner has been pushed into a corner by all kinds of problems with his past life. Now there is great discussion as to whether he should leave the race or not.
There are some Democrats who believe that turnabout is fair play. If Trump can be president with his horrific history with woman and Paxton can run for the Senate even though his life reeks with horrific deeds, then the best thing to do is keep Platner in the race. The argument is that the Republicans don’t seem to be upset by similar actions of their guys so why should the Democrats lose a promising candidate over the same kind of sins.
I want to win as many seats in the House and Senate as possible in November. I fear that if the Democrats lose it will indeed be one hundred years until the Republican hold on our nation is broken. I know Trump and his party play dirty all of the time. I live in Texas and I have seen it so often that it makes my stomach turn. Nonetheless how can we expect to complain about people like Trump and Paxton and others if we look the other way when one of our guys behaves in the same way. What kind of message does that send to the women of Maine, to our daughters?
I am sick of men getting away with their attacks on women. We have two Supreme Court Justices appointed by Republicans who were credibly accused of sexual misconduct by women and yet we seem to have believed the men and viewed the women as hysterical liars. This is why it is so difficult for women who have been sexually abused to step forward. Their privacy is invaded and they have to endure the humiliation of being accused of inventing stories even when their evidence is detailed and haunting. Why don’t they come forward sooner? Perhaps it is because they already know that they may not be believed.
It is time to call out the hypocrisy of looking the other way when our president is guilty of a sexual crime and so it should be with Graham Platner whose checkered past is calling his character into question. When the stories keep piling up just as they have with Ken Paxton it’s easy to see that there is a pattern that should never be ignored.
Maine Democrats should have the opportunity to find a new candidate. Maybe Stephen King or Heather Cox Richardson would be willing to step forward to represent or more likely there is another candidate of good will and good character who can still defeat the Republican in November. There is still time to show some honor and message to the world that Democrats are not hypocrites. The stability of our nation depends on holding our leaders accountable.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 