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| T. Denny Sanford (minnpost image) |
What would you or I do, were we accused of something so horrible? Let lawyers do our talking for us? Let our case be furthered by the nuanced legal arguments that get into the weeds some?
Wouldn't you or I want to "shout from the nearest rooftop," as they say? I would feel flummoxed if anyone suggested that I did what is suspected by T. Denny Sanford.
Sanford is not your average Joe. Your average Joe probably would have been steamrollered by our legal system by now. Oh, you know how it is. We read that Clarence Thomas "may have broken the law." The media reports that as if the Supreme Court Justice has done something of startling impropriety. But again, you know how it is with big shots, white collar crime and the "suit" attorneys who cluster with such people. C'mon man.
T. Denny Sanford has given money to Donald Trump's campaigns. Quite consistent with the state of South Dakota which smacks of one-party rule. Why has it come to this? It wasn't always this way. Remember Tom Daschle? South Dakotans may rue the day when they allowed one party to take over with vise-like power.
Remember that Jason Ravnsborg came very close to not being impeached. We had to breathe a sigh of relief on that one. But so very close.
T. Denny Sanford has some very important cover with his known partisan reputation. Stop and think for a moment: What if T. Denny Sanford was a well-known benefactor for political causes on the left? What if he was remindful of George Soros? Soros is the total boogeyman for the political right wing. His name is code for everything that the Trump crowd reviles. Such simplistic thinking, if nothing else. Anti-Semitic? That may play in also.
But let's imagine that Sanford was in fact a Soros-like figure who championed such causes. How would that reputation have affected the reaction to suspicions of his despicable behavior? Let's make clear we're talking about accessing child pornography. The political right goes nuts when assailing judges or Supreme Court nominees who have given out sentences that appear on the more lenient end. Let's consider the newest member of the court, Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The background you need to know, is that judges in general sentence on the more lenient end for the kind of misconduct we're talking about here. The reason is this: the laws on such matters were passed in the days when accessing the prohibited material was much harder. The big change of course came with the development of the Internet.
Karl Rove gave some essential background on this. I'm pleased to be quoting someone associated with the political right, in case you feel I'm unreasonably biased the other way. Rove explained that being on a computer "gives you the illusion of anonymity."
You might want to cry out "that's no excuse." In principle you're right. But think of basic human realities. There's a good chance that you the reader have looked up some things with the convenience and ease of your computer that you would not readily admit. It might be basic porn. The concept of porn has been turned upside down by our new age. It used to be "underground." It kept that stigma for a time in the early days of the 'Net. It then went through one of those inexorable changes wrought by the 'Net. The 'Net insists we follow along. "You have to follow the bouncing ball and sing along."
So porn got consolidated on certain master sites like Porn Hub where it became pretty clear you could go and watch stuff without "stumbling" onto something that could get you in prison. Prior to this development, I literally held off on acquiring my own computer, because I feared "stumbling." Maybe I'd seek a little standard porn, as nearly all of us do, and end up with something else.
Base impulses
Young men fell victim to the "anonymity problem" as cited by Rove, and began showing up on camera for Chris Hansen and his TV exposes. And of course what the boys/men did was despicable. The problem is the ease in crossing the old lines. And yes, couple that with the "dark side" that so many of us have. Christian preachers would tell you about this. The old "fire and brimstone" sermons were borne of this. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Shall we lock up all the guys who showed up for Chris Hansen? Do this kind of sting in all major cities? It's embarrassing for humanity. Plus wouldn't we need to build new prisons all over the place, bankrolled by our tax dollars? The offenders need a really good scare - let them be on their way and say a prayer. And for God's sake, give underage kids firm direction on how to manage their online life. The basic principle of "beware of strangers."
People who find access to child porn simply for the purpose of looking at it, probably don't need the maximum kind of punishment. I don't know if T. Denny is guilty or not as an absolute fact. I will suggest by way of opinion that he is. And that if he were not, he wouldn't rely on lawyers speaking legalese so much. Or on court pronouncements that merely state he "didn't commit a prosecutable offense in South Dakota." Oh, the legal people and their massaging of the English language. Such masters.
Close your eyes, imagine
I would suggest that poor T. Denny would be absolutely hung out to dry, raked over the coals by the Bill O'Reillys of the world, if he had a track record of giving $ to left-of-center political interests. Hoo boy.
Child molestation is a cousin to the kind of offense we're talking about here. O'Reilly became so fanatical on that, he suggested that the guilty parties are not even entitled to defense attorneys. I remember him trying to "corner" a defense attorney or two. That was with his "ambush" style.
(Didn't O'Reilly eventually reveal his own "beast" within?)
Of course, the problem with all the right wing histrionics about molestation and related offenses, is that they sure seem quiet when it comes to the Catholic Church. Josh Hawley has a record of restraint when it comes to the Catholic Church. Expedience? But watch Hawley sink his teeth into any new Democratic-nominated Supreme Court justice! What a tangled web we weave when partisan motives and money enter in.
Cut to the chase
Would I want to come down hard on T. Denny Sanford? I am in the opposite political camp from him. It does not matter. As you've consumed the many recent news articles about T. Denny and his travails, I am going to guess you all know exactly what is going on. This is never stated as such in the articles - the articles are full of lawyer-speak. "No prosecutable offenses." Especially not for a "Scrooge McDuck" like T. Denny, wink.
We all know the guy is very old. We should not speak with prejudice about that. But you probably know that old people are not that intuitive about making all the changes associated with the Internet age. I'm 68 and I struggle myself. I have become astute enough to realize that if I want to look at a little porn, I'll go to "Porn Hub." I finally got my own computer, a laptop.
T. Denny Sanford perhaps let his dark side get the best of him. He lacked astute-ness. No cardinal sin there. And if he was not involved in the production of the despicable material - if he simply observed - well then I'd say just scare the hell out of him to make sure he doesn't do it again. And if he does, maybe just take away his Internet privileges. The prison is no place for someone like him. Just start taking away some of his privileges, or more effective yet, his money! There is more than one way to skin a cat.
Republicans will reserve their harshest, most holier-than-thou judgment for the Democrat-appointed judges/justices.
What a strange world we have allowed to develop around us, n'est-ce pas? Tom Daschle, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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