Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Biden Pardons Son
Despite saying for ages that he would never pardon his son, Hunter, President Joe Biden has issued a blanket pardon to his boy covering the last 10 years. The howling from the right has been typical of the faux rage they have managed to distill in their media bubble. One would think the Republic was going to collapse from the intense corruption of the Biden crime family. In truth, President Biden compromised on his principles to protect his son from the onslaught that the MAGA team had in store for him. Much of the howling is from those whose prey has escaped.
Hunter Biden is not a poster boy for morality. He had a drug addiction that caused him to do some dumb things. This included not paying his taxes and possessing a firearm while on drugs. Most of the time, these crimes are not charged as they are better addressed outside of prison. Drug addicts do not benefit from incarceration. Tax bills can always be worked out. Indeed, Mr. H. Biden did get those taxes paid off in full.
Yet, he was named Biden, and that made him a target for the MAGA crowd. Any way they could paint the President or his family as crooked or evil was fodder for their propaganda machine. They whined about his laptop. They insisted he was involved in Ukrainian election fixing. He was everything short of Bugsy Siegel in their minds. The trouble was the evidence supported the argument that he was an addict who did a lot of things a non-addict would not have done.
When Mr. Biden said he would never pardon his son, it was based on the belief that the incoming Harris administration would simply drop the prosecution. That would be the end of the matter. Or if it were politically necessary, the trials he faced could proceed until he was either convicted or acquitted. If the latter, there would be no problem. If the former, President Harris could issue some form of clemency. It would still smell a bit fishy, but the aroma would be lessened than if the father pardoned the son.
As usual, the right has failed to see all the implication of the events. As a pardoned man, Hunter Biden can no longer protect himself under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. He can be subpoenaed and forced to testify. If they have any real dirt on him, they can still air it in public. And in fact, they will be able to keep their based aggrieved by the unfairness of it all. He will confess to whatever, and there can be no punishment. One can hear Fox News now, “Oh, the humanity!”
The fact is the pardon power is probably a necessary check on the judiciary. Sometimes, the judges should not get the final say. At the same time, it is clearly used far to often for political and personal ends rather than for matters of state.
One can argue that the pardon President Ford issued to President Nixon was a mistake. What one cannot argue is that is benefited Mr. Ford. The fact is he probably would have won in 1976 without the pardon. Yet, Mr. Ford took the view that a pardon would draw a line under the Watergate Era, and it would allow the nation to move on. That is a pardon for reasons of state.
It might be within the realm of the believable to say that the Hunter pardon helps ensure that the political prosecutions of the future do not begin. Yet, the personal benefit here undercuts that.
The nation needs to reform the pardon process. While the president should be able to free someone, the whims of one person should not be the basis for this. Perhaps, a legislative veto is in order, which would require a constitutional amendment.
Since that is unlikely, one must get ready for more political and personal pardons in the coming years.
© Copyright 2024 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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