{"id":8359,"date":"2018-10-10T18:23:05","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T01:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/?p=8359"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:52:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:52:36","slug":"editorial-triumph-of-principles-over-passions-in-supreme-court-confirmation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/2018\/10\/10\/editorial-triumph-of-principles-over-passions-in-supreme-court-confirmation\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial – Triumph of Principles over Passions in Supreme Court Confirmation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cris Alarcon]<\/em><\/p>\n

The foresight of our nation\u2019s founding fathers is remarkable and clearly evident in the recent confirmation of Supreme Court member Kavanagh. \u00a0Many have seen the uproar and to many it seems a political move as much as care about victims of sexual assaults. \u00a0I make no apologies for the confirmation and I am also known to be public about my own experience of being sexually assaulted by a male member of my family when I was young. \u00a0I have published a story about that and how it continues to affect my life even 45 years later. \u00a0I have been open in my support of the \u201cme too\u201d concept but not as a political movement but rather as an effective way to encourage, support victims, and to shine a light on this serious scourge of life. \u00a0I have not shied away from the most taboo topics of male-on-male sexual assaults or child sexual assaults. \u00a0But I do not let my passion turn into a political issue.<\/p>\n

I have personally experienced the morally corrupting effect of letting my passion overwhelm my principles in politics and regret it all the time. \u00a0I understand the pull, but it always leads to morally bankrupt decisions that are more self-serving than anything I can be proud of. Since I was in the hospital with major surgery the idea of how I act and how I will face a final accounting of how well I applied my principles over my passions was forefront in my mind as I checked my cell phone and saw wide actions that I would never be able to justify.<\/p>\n

Long ago I understood that Principle embedded in our form of government to give people the right to be seen as innocent until duly proven guilty as a balance against a tyrannical government that we had left behind in Europe. \u00a0Most commonly known as \u201cinnocent until proven guilty.\u201d \u00a0But as I watched the political movement to swing the Highest court to a Left-leaning political body rather than Right-leaning for what was clearly political reasons.<\/p>\n

The cry being that victims should be believed. \u00a0Yes they should, but there is no justification to support that alleged victims should be believed more so than accused victimizers just as a matter of process. \u00a0If there is any reasonable justification of truth to the victims claims there should be a\u00a0level of belief to trigger an initial inquiry that might lead to a further investigation if there is evidence to support the claims of misconduct. \u00a0We all understand the difficulties that can arise in a He-said-she-said scenario, but to assume one is lying without any supporting evidence is grossly unfair and a disservice to the many other victims that will be painted as unreliable due to the issue being turned into a political issue rather that a mental health or criminal issue. \u00a0Such actions are no different than the lesson we learned as \u201cthe boy that cried wolf\u201d and how it devalues the needed help needed when the wolf is in the herd.<\/p>\n

My heart breaks because what I saw was the victims of all sexual assaults being the victims of a political movement and they will be suffering for years as the credibility of their claims will now be seen in light of these very public, but unlikely claims made for ulterior purposes, that will inevitably cast a level of doubt on the true victims that deserve a fair hearing of their claims.<\/p>\n

Not only do I see this from the perspective of a victim myself, I also see it from the point of an endangered person more likely to be falsely accused for malicious purposes solely because of my gender. \u00a0I have known this since business school and it has been reinforced many times growing up in California. \u00a0 About 30 years ago, while drinking plenty in college, I was taught that I had to take precautions in the newly litigious environment where executive males were being assumed to be guilty in a he-said-she-said accused of improper sexual behavior. \u00a0I learned to never close the door in a private meeting with a sole female college and to open the blinds. \u00a0Better yet was to have a 3rd party witness. \u00a0Not because I would have done anything improber that way, but that I would need to be proactive in my own defense against false claims. \u00a0All because I was a member of the predominantly offending gender. \u00a0So I took those precautions and always behaved as I was (still am) somewhat repressed that way due to my own younger experiences of being a victim myself.<\/p>\n

Fair? I don\u2019t know and don\u2019t even care that much because I do believe that the vast majority of offenders are males, especially those\u00a0in positions of higher power. \u00a0But I do strongly believe that all persons are due the right of the assumption of innocence until proven otherwise, regardless of gender. \u00a0Anything less is nothing short of sexism. \u00a0Sexisim for political gamesmanship at the cost of real victims is a simply morally bankrupt course of action and is indefensible in every case.<\/p>\n

In the end I am proud of the tenants of Principles heeling in unbridled passions in the conformation of the newest Supreme Court Justice. \u00a0I am also saddened for those that are victims caught up in a political game without any care of how it will harm personally. \u00a0Regardless of your position of a more Conservative or Liberal court your actions should be guided by actions that help those that need it, not by politics.<\/p>\n

I am satisfied with the outcome of the process regardless of the spectacle that came with it. \u00a0I know good and bad Republicans just like I know good and bad Democrats. \u00a0Those political tags really just refer to a favored form of government and often have nothing to do with the compassion in that person\u2019s heart. \u00a0To intentionally obfuscated that fact for political gamesmanship is something we should all try to avoid and to avoid those that would choose such a path.<\/p>\n

\u201cPower tends to corrupt,\u201d said Lord Acton, the 19th-century British historian. \u201cAbsolute power corrupts absolutely.\u201d \u00a0All people deserve compassion when facing the corrupting powers of the political process, not just males or females, not just accusers or accused. \u00a0A fair hearing of the validity of the circumstances is the first step to a kind and compassionate society.<\/p>\n

Let us move forward with compassion recognizing the past spectacle for what it was, a political game with no concern for the real victims of sexual assaults. \u00a0Regardless of our skin color, our gender, or even the political party we self-affiliate with, we are up to this if we put compassion and fairness first.<\/p>\n

Cris Alarcon, 10\/10\/2018<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cris Alarcon] The foresight of our nation\u2019s founding fathers is remarkable and clearly evident in the recent confirmation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[43,1],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","darknews-slider-full":"","darknews-featured":"","darknews-medium":"","darknews-medium-square":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"News MoLo","author_link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"Alarcon<\/a> News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8359"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8359"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8360,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8359\/revisions\/8360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}