We have all seen the headlines in the last week. Children are being held in detention centers along the border. They are being taken from their parents. They are crying, they are screaming, and there doesn't seem to be a thing we can do to save them.
This is, in a word, despicable. I hope we can all agree on that.
We've also seen those other headlines. Obama did it too. It's a Democrat law. Democrats are the problem, if only they would let the GOP fix it things would be fine.
We are a country of the Spiderman meme.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/spider-man-pointing-...
When faced with images of children being held in cages, a popular knee jerk reaction is to share articles that say things like "Obama also detained children at the border." Does this make it right? Does this make Trump detaining children at the border in inhumane circumstances acceptable? Does it fit with our moral code? I hope not.
When faced with compelling evidence that Russian collusion occurred during the election, a common reaction is "Hillary used a private e-mail account." Great, does that make it okay? Does Hillary using a private e-mail account justify Russian collusion or vice versa? Of course not.
When shown evidence that many Democrats felt uncomfortable voting for Clinton because she is a woman, many yelled "Well Republicans didn't vote for Romney because of his religion." Does their inherent bias make yours less offensive? No.
When presented with the notion that the 45th President of the United States potentially had an affair with a porn star and then paid her off to prevent the sullying of his name, a popular reaction is to scream, "Bill lied about Monica Lewinsky!" Does that make Trump's actions okay? Or does that mean that we can use Bill Clinton's poor moral code to justify the poor moral code of our sitting president? Absolutely not.
Many Americans view the party in opposition to their own beliefs as an actual threat to the very fabric of our nation's democracy.
And yet.
By finding cause for action in another's wrongdoing, you are simultaneously saying that the action was only upsetting to you because they do not belong to your party and saying that your moral code is only as high as the worst person in your party.
Said another way, by making comparisons and yelling about the fact that the other party has done the same thing, you are essentially reducing yourself to a kindergartner screaming "Well Sally did it first, so it's okay!" Ironically, this is the very age person being negatively impacted by such behavior at this very moment.
We, as a country, need to take a long look in the mirror, and make some decisions.
Do we really believe that "we didn't elect a preacher" because past presidents have had affairs?
Do we really want to allow collusion with another country because the other candidate was terrible too?
Do we want to justify our biases because the other party has the same ones?
Do we really feel comfortable with child detention because it has been done in the past?
Do we really want to define our moral code by what the other party does wrong?
