Hawthorn Hill Journal by Richard deRosa

Pardon Me

Pardon me, but is anyone out there as baffled by this pardon thing as I am? Cornucopias normally spew edible things like fruits, flowers or nuts. Since when are clearly defined presidential powers misconstrued as pardon cornucopias? Put mildly, things have gotten a bit out of hand.

I can think of many thoughts and actions on my part that might just qualify as pardonable gestures, if not sins. That is, if I believed in sins, which I do not. Which is not to suggest that the difference between good and evil, or right and wrong, is not easily discernible. Most reasonable people know the difference no matter how arrived at.

What many of the founders of this nation worried about has come to pass; a president acting as if he were a king. Aside from the not-so-Supreme Court’s tortured decision to grant a president virtually unlimited immunity, the facts on the ground suggest that recent presidents, especially the last one and the one we are now saddled with, have increasingly seen fit to blatantly disregard what the Constitution actually permits: “he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except Cases of Impeachment.” (Art. II, Sec. 2).