Like many Americans I watched the Kavanaugh
hearings yesterday. And as I sat that I could not help but wonder how we got
here. How is it that so many senators and ordinary citizens are so quick to
pass judgement on a man who they do know even know? If the senators and many
people in this country are opposed to his nomination on ideological
grounds, does that give them the right to assume that he is therefore guilty of
a crime committed over 30 years ago? Finally, why was Kavanaugh so
bothered by these accusations if he knows them to be untrue? Why the
anger?
As I
mentioned in an entry over 18 months ago http://www.whitecollarguru.com/2017/01/innocent-until-proven-guilty-or-guilty.html and
well before President Trump brought it up earlier this week, I lament that the
idea that we are innocent until proven guilty is, for all practical purposes,
nothing more than a myth. Once someone has been indicted and that indictment is
covered in the press, in the eyes of many, he is already guilty. From there it
becomes very difficult to get a fair trial even if the defendant is innocent.
The onus is on the defendant to prove his innocence instead of on the government
to prove guilt. This creates a completely backwards system of justice where
people are always quick to believe allegations whether they can be corroborated
or not. For those who already decided that Kavanaugh was unfit for the Supreme
Court this was yet another excuse (not a reason) to protest his
nomination.
As to the
outrage by Kavanaugh, I can empathize. I have two daughters, one of whom is 15.
As a father, nothing scares me more than an episode such as what happened to Kavanaugh’s
accuser, Dr. Ford. I am sure every father shares the same fears, so I am not
going to attempt to white wash the cultural epidemic that has victimized women
for all too long. Thankfully, many of these perpetrators have been exposed and
brought to justice. Finally, albeit belatedly, there is a cultural revolution
where women are saying that they are not going to take it anymore! And it is
about time!
At the same
time, I have been on the receiving end of baseless accusations. While I have
never been accused by women of inappropriate behavior, it was alleged in a
deposition that I engaged is some repulsive actions that, if true would have
changed even my closest friends' views of me and destroyed my marriage. The
fact is they were not true and no one who knows me believed them to be true.
Nevertheless, I attempted to have the release of these transcripts blocked by
the courts. When I called my lawyers to proceed with this action they asked me
why I cared. They told me that I am being accused of being part of a fraud
involving the loss of a billion dollars and this is nothing compared to that!
So why did I
instruct them to do so? There are two types of allegations. There are the types
that can be proven or disproven and there are the types that are difficult to refute.
As far as the allegations regarding my complicity went, I was prepared than as
I am today to prove that the accusations as it related to my alleged criminal
activity were without any merit. I had correspondence that supported my
position and my actions at the time clearly demonstrated that I was not a
co-conspirator. On the contrary, there was ample evidence to support the notion
that I was misled and lied to more than any person involved in the case.
Sexual
allegations, however, are an entirely different matter. It is very difficult to
prove a negative. Just as there was no way to substantiate the baseless
accusations when it came to my morality, there was no way to disprove these
accusations. These types of accusations amounted to an attack on my family, my
marriage and my morality. I knew that one day my daughters would grow up and
would read all of these disgusting things about their father. I had to fight
back. I was not going to allow this to go unanswered even if it meant there was
only a small outside chance that the release of these transcripts could be
blocked.
So, I
understand Judge Kavanaugh's outrage. I understand what it means to have your
morality attacked. I understand what it means to endure an attack on the very
foundation of your marriage. I understand what it means to have a daughter who
will one day have to read things about her father that cannot be corroborated
nor disproven. I understand what it means to be accused of something impossible
to defend against. So, while I am unsure what to make of Dr. Ford's
accusations, I am sure of what to make of Kavanaugh's response. It is the
response of someone under attack for actions he never committed. In short,
#imwithhim.
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