Americans have no absolute standards because we have been told for some time, now, that everything, including ethics, are conditional. There is no right and wrong, just the current condition — except, of course, when having a standard that is cast in bronze is useful to this side or that.
How about we return our culture to a point where we actually DO have set standards, and then we live by them?
A good place to start?
How about respect for the office of the President of the United States — no matter who it is!
Right now there is a great deal of offense out there because Marilyn Davenport, a Southern California Republican Party official, sent an e-mail that, according to the Associated Press, “included an altered photo depicting President Barack Obama as an ape.”
Then she made things worse by issuing the statement, “You’re not going to make a big deal about this are you?” and calling it “just an Internet joke.”
Not smart.
“Republican Party of Orange County Chairman Scott Baugh told The Associated Press on Saturday that he wants an ethics investigation into the incident. ‘It’s just highly inappropriate, it’s a despicable message, it drips with racism and I think she should step down from the committee,’ said Baugh.”
He’s absolutely right.
Whether you like the president or not. He’s absolutely right.
At the very least, we should respect the office — whether we respect the man or not, no matter who he is, no matter which party he represents, he still represents — at least in theory — all Americans.
Which raises another issue.
If you want to see a lot of inappropriate presidential images, just do an Internet search for “George Bush chimp images” and you’ll see that those on the opposite side of the aisle were issuing these images long before they were offended at the treatment of Obama.
Americans need to respect their president because he IS their president, not just when their party is in charge or when there is a president with whom they agree.
All of us need to not drop that standard when someone is in office we don’t like.
Frankly, a lot of the people who are SO offended by Davenport’s actions figured it was funny when the object of ridicule was a Republican president they did not respect, they found it hilarious when a president who was NOT popular with them was disrespected overseas.
It’s time for Americans to adopt a standard and then to stick to it.
Situational standards are nonsense and we should, as a people, rise above them.
— Chuck Smith