Again from the New York Times: “BILL RICHARDSON, New Mexico’s departing governor, is known for his studied sense of theater. But when he recently declared that he would hold a hearing to consider a posthumous pardon for the state’s most notorious resident — William Bonney, a k a Henry McCarty, a k a Billy the Kid — a lot of us wondered if he had lost his mind.”
Why the pardon?
“At issue is a deal made in 1879 by one of Mr. Richardson’s predecessors, Lew Wallace (later the author of “Ben-Hur”). Wallace promised to grant Billy the Kid amnesty for murders he committed during the so-called Lincoln County War if he would testify about a killing he had witnessed; the Kid testified, but Wallace’s men reneged on the deal. Two years later Pat Garrett, the sheriff of Lincoln County, shot and killed the outlaw.’
OK – short answer … it is NOT what folk legend William Bonney did, or did not do -- that’s just smoke and mirrors by those who, today, are imposing their immorality upon the nation and are thus destroying it.
The real issue here is: Can someone trust the Government – be it State or Federal – to honor its own statements, and, by extension, its own laws? Or are government officials immoral and corrupt?
The answer will be made clear by the actions of New Mexico. If New Mexicans are honorable and worthy of trust, the Pardon will be granted -– as originally negotiated and promised. If New Mexico is dishonorable and its people unworthy of being called Americans, they will reject the Pardon that their predecessors agreed to … Bonney kept his part of the agreement … given the time that has passed, and the fact he was killed before the State acted, it is not a purely symbolic act.
Symbolically, New Mexicans are either lower than dirt and doomed to exist in the deepest levels of Hell, or are honorable people worthy of national respect in other matters reflecting their current ability to render just and honorable judgment.
Wonder where they stand on the Arizona Immigration Law? The Washington Post concluded an article on that bit of fluff with the statement: “Either Arizona lawmakers will have to learn that constitutional and moral principle, or they will have to take the Golden Rule off our license plates.”
Yep New Mexico is faced with a GOLDEN RULE choice: If their state made an agreement with them, and they fulfilled their part of the bargain, would they want the state to renege? How would they feel about that? As they do to Bonney, so the state, and nation, will henceforth be free to do to them.
As to them enjoying an eternal vacation in Hell –- Golden Rule happens to the the only criteria agreed to by ALL the world’s major religions. It is the single criteria of faith … and has been for at least six thousand years … it is stated in the ancient tombs of the first Dynastic Egyptian period; in the ancient Sanskrit texts and traditions going back to 3125BCE; in the ancient first dynastic era in China …
This is not about Bonney – it is about New Mexico and New Mexicans … they give the pardon or accept damnation. And how you decide … the position you take on the issue … determines how you generally decide … and that attitude determines your fate.
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OF POSSIBLE INTEREST:
Arianna Huffington: Third World America: Why I Wrote the Book and What We Need to Do to Save America's Middle Class : Growing up in Greece, everyone knew someone who'd left to find a better life in America. That was the phrase everyone associated with America: "a better life." When I came to live here in 1980, I knew there was no other place I'd rather live. Thirty years later, I still feel that way. But something went wrong -- terribly wrong -- and put our country on a very dangerous path that threatens to transform us into Third World America. It's a jarring phrase, I know, but I decided to make that the title of my new book, which is being released today, as a warning -- to make it clear that if we don't change course that could very well be our future. But the book is not just a critique of the many ways things are broken -- it's a practical guide for how to fix them.
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