“With Malice towards none, with Charity towards all.”

These were the words of the First Republican president after 48 months of war, after being called a traitor, a murderer, the Black Republican, jackass, imbecile, the Illinois ape and a baboon by the enemies who would kill him.

“I heard poorly rated Morning Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Mike, along with Psycho Joe ... “

The words of perhaps the last Republican president after a television segment. With these and other words, we have discussed his fitness for the office. Now we should discuss how he is fit for removal from that office.

But we cannot yet pardon him by removal. We must, before any pardon, continue the many investigations in collusion with Russia to determine the legitimacy of Donald Trump, Mike Pence and the whole administration.

I remember the Richard Nixon pardon ending the Watergate investigation. I remember how the Iran-Contra investigations ended when a Republican president gave pardons to former Cabinet members convicted and to others facing trial. I will not have my children and grandchildren remember how we looked away from the harsh, post election accusations of Russia selecting the winner of the 2016 election.

Just as Abraham Lincoln sought a moral right and a godly justice, we must, like him, seek “to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves.”

Michael W. Parker
Flowery Branch

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