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Salem Witch Trials Parallel Today’s Political Climate?

By Tom Anselm

“This is a sharp time, now, a precise time.” So says Judge Danforth, the Massachusetts official and presiding judge of the Salem witch trial in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible.

He continues… ‘We live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world.”

Well, it seems we are indeed in a sharp time, a precise time, as it applies to our United States of America.

It couldn’t be more evident as I reflect upon the last few months or so of our nation’s political scene. Just like that time in colonial Salem, the air is filled with accusations and innuendo and public hysteria, vigorous charges and impassioned testimony.

People are taking sides like we haven’t seen in several years, government officials are promising this or that ultimatum or absolute truism. Groups on both sides of the spectrum are gathering and marching and chanting.

It occurs to me that I could be referring to the early 1950s, when the Communist scare was in full throttle. Or the late ‘60s and early 1970s during the protests against the Vietnam War. But the real reference here is the nomination and subsequent hearings regarding President Donald Trump’s choice for replacing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, which resulted in the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

You know how this played, and how it ended. It is not here to rehash that story. But I do have some observations.

I believe that the foundation of United States law, that of ‘innocent until proven guilty,’ has been shaken a bit by all this.

Even though the Kavanaugh hearing was not a legal trial, many government officials showed by their actions and words that they had made up their minds on him prior to the first bang of the gavel that opened the proceedings.

One side assuming his being unfit for the lifetime appointment, the other assuring us of his stellar character and qualifications.   But, both sides using the sexual misconduct issue to their advantage.

About that. As a father of four women, grandfather of seven and husband to another, I was deeply troubled by the allegations of a seemingly credible person, Dr. Christine Ford. But I was also disturbed by the chaos that such a charge caused, and at how difficult it can be to substantiate such a claim.

And to defend against such claims. As to that chaos, it seemed to serve the agenda’s of both sides.

Was it coincidence, do you think, that Side 1 used this highly emotional issue to rally people, sensitive in this “#metoo era”, at a time when that side is trying to wrest power away from Side 2 by means of the mid-term elections for the legislature?

Or that Side 2, seeing that this was happening, chose to rally their own supporters around the nominee, and by extension, around all of their candidates who are either trying to hold onto their seats or attempting to gain new places in the House and Senate?

Sadly, I think we all got played… again. Do you really think that either side gave a fig about Mr. Kavanaugh or Ms. Ford, about the veracity of the accuser, or that of the accused, except insofar as the whole messy situation advanced their goals?

Questions to ponder, as we live in these days in which Judge Danforth referred to as the ‘dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good.’

Except that it appears evil has come out of the dusk into the light, and is taking the lead.

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