Biden Pardons—Death Penalty Deterrent … Public Safety… Punishment in a Civil & Just Society

President Biden’s clemency over the last two weeks has surely sparked much discussion

It is part of a much larger strategy

…that will unfold in the days between Christmas and New Years

While…THE 1500 rise eyebrows, those on Death Row have sparked a deeper out cry from both sides – both pro and con

The real entre is coming that will shield high profile political allies from Trumpian Justice

Maybe this is a good thing

…so a fatigued nation can turn the page and move on

The American People so desperately want to proceed to a New Normal

…which BTW is the Old Pre-Obama/WOKE Normal

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This ability to stop measuring everything by Identity categories which has been nothing short of debilitating

…devastating to the cohesion of the nation

Where once upon a time …there were people like my family that lived in a completely colorless society

…our vision was abundantly clear; we were interested like MLK in the quality of the individuals character

?– as we say in Orthodoxy …a Pure Heart

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This is what created the Raison d’etre of a Just Society

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Not just at Christmas time did we celebrate

?…such a season of Joy, unity and goodwill

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…..but every day for this was our small contribution

………to making a Better Society, Better America, Better World

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Alas that vision is long gone …a speck in my rearview mirror that has been replaced these last sixteen years as Cultural Champion that actively engaged those that no longer liked American Civilization

..far worse replaced it with something at a much lower energy level that lacked all of the quality we were accustomed to.

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?Post Obama ..nearly a generation in American Society has transformed our nation into a place of hyper-reactive behavior

…Much Too Materialistic

….Too Centered on Hedonism – addictive pornography

…..Extreme Violence that is senseless and depraved

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Of course, such a shift from our former place of centered wellness has made us collectively ill

…..obese and physically unhealthy

…..addicted to pharmaceuticals and self-medication

…..Cognitive and Intellectual decline

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What’s so fascinating about the President’s clemency is how we as a society would have perceived this forty years ago

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Come with me …Back in the Day – Forty Five years ago

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At seminary we had our Social Ethics class that proved to be one of my favorite courses

The period of the late 1970’s to early 1990’s were a Golden Age in the training of clergy in our American Orthodox space

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They were a creative combination of the economic success of our tribes that generously endowed these spaces

Outstanding faculty that were educated in Europe and America

The students who were products of the best years of American Public Education

It was a great moment when we believed all things were possible

…dialogue within the Christian and Non-Christian Communities

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Openness – Scholarship- Collaboration ?

Big Questions could be laid on the table and then debated purely on their merits

The strength of your evidence and skill of presenting it won the day

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Truly this was a totally different America than we live in today

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In the Ethics Class our professor asked one of those big question

What is the place of Punishment and Forgiveness in a Just Society?

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This was a two hour class, once a week

..this debate maturated over the space of six weeks running into overtime many classes

…..twenty hours in which fifteen individuals battled it out

Factions formed and the prof served as the referee

Being a Greek Orthodox seminary as you can imagine

..the Ancient Greek Philosophers, Patristic Fathers merged with the modern Humanistic Psychologists, Sociological Thinkers, Criminologists

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As I said…. due to the manner, we were educated in that period

…such eclectic discussion came easy – was lots of fun

..for these were the rigorous academic minds formed during the Apex of the American Century

..that proceeded to produce some of the best clergy we ever created in America

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The thread of the debate ran the gambit ….

Nature of Sin

Compunction

Contrition

Retribution

Redemption

Place of Mercy

State of Mindfulness

What were the responsibilities of a Civil Just Society

Final Judgement – Man’s Fallen Nature – the Great Absolution

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After all the smoke and heat cleared ..there was light

That in retrospect it reflects the American Society of the 1980’s not our current state of mind or mental wellness

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The Civil Society puts no one to death, recompensed the victims and supported them, educated the youth to their mindful responsibilities to others

Rewarding Good Works and Achievement but most especially the Just Society possessed mechanisms of Safety to deter those irritant minds that would think twice due to the swiftness that Justice would be administered and how they would be removed from the Civil Society for a long time in which they could workout their individual salvation

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Fast forward into our current society where the Wokesters championed an anti law enforcement culture of Canceling the Police

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The fragile balance of all these societal norms and mores just falls apart

No one feels safe in our current America

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As I joke to my friends in the city

…after you get to No Where –you must drive another hour to get where I live

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Yet even here on my posh street….

…a legion of cameras- lights follows anyone walking up this street

…my neighbors have not a single firearm but Gun Rooms- Gun Safes, quite literally a private arsenal—my ex-Navy Seal neighbor – drones - dogs

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While this is not the type of Civil Society I desire

?…it is a deterrent to crime that unfortunately works well

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Several months ago in the early morning someone was scurrying around the side of my house –checking to see what security we had

In my bathrobe and PJs, no less-- I confronted the young man

What’s up?

He only spoke Spanish – he said

Do you have work?

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Without skipping a beat …not wasting my time to call 911

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I told him in the calmest – almost inaudible voice

…think Marlon Brando – Godfather I

Estás en el lugar equivocado,

la gente de mi calle te matará y luego te hará una pregunta,

tienes que irte ahora

you are in the wrong place - people on my street will kill you and then ask questions -- you need to leave now

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His eyes widened and he gulped – then scurried off rapidly

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Doing this bothered me for several weeks

– my wife/family kept telling me you did the right things

One thing that they know ….My Zero Tolerance for any BS

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While I believe in the place of mercy and also believe the death penalty does not deter crime

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What haunts me is the victims and their families whose lives are inextricably changed by these senseless crimes

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The President's gesture does nothing to address this much larger issue

…which is restoring the necessary mechanism of Public Safety along with a media culture that reinforces the messaging of Law and Order

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Leadership across the political spectrum must address how do we reinstitute into our Civil Society these systemics?

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The New WDC Sheriff in Town and his security apparatus will be criticized by the Progressives

Yet I ask them to see this enforcement as a necessary correction so that civil people (like me) do not have to live with fear or be thrust into a role that is not my responsibility but theirs --? I pay my taxes—its your job

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More than punishment the correct response is consistent collective messaging of the standards and responsibilities of citizens in a Just-Civil Society

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We are all responsible for each other in a mindfulness that seeks the Greater Good

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If we could follow this simple path, we would see a restoration of America’s Greatness

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Happy Holidays

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