Bill cheated on Hillary 20 years ago and may have habitually cheated on Hillary. Hillary and Bill are still married. Hillary is running for President. Hillary is not accountable for Bill’s actions. There is no definition of that marriage that makes Bill not responsible for Bill’s actions. We can not become a culture that blames the victim. We can not become a culture that pivots to another bad action of that victim to justify the blame. Every act stands alone. You can be a victim of one act (philandering) and the perpetrator of another (illegal or irresponsible email). // Donald lost a billion dollars in 1995. Donald submitted a billion dollar loss on his taxes under audit. Donald is an outspoken, celebrity, billionaire under extreme scrutiny. The act of submitting a loss on a tax return and benefitting from that loss for whatever period of time is not on its face illegal or immoral. Calling oneself “smart” for knowing out to operate (or paying others to help you operate) in a complex system of laws is not de facto illegal or immoral. // This election has become less about the micro and macro level issues that impact our day to day universe, and more of a game of gotcha – a race to determine who is the least moral. We’re blaming people for the acts of others; We’re blaming people for operating legally under a complex system. For Moderates like myself who feel persuaded by many Republican ideals fiscally, many Democratic ideals socially and many Libertarian ideals from a civil liberties perspective, it sure would ideal to be issues focused the last month of this campaign. (This moment of idealistic thought has been brought to you by my day off to reflect about all of this nonsense because the Jewish calendar is like 35 billion years old and far more complicated than our tax code.)
Jeremy Padawer