I was reminded today of my mother’s admonition 65 years ago, when I was 7 years old and rationalized after hitting my sister, “But Mom, she hit me first!” My mom, of course, replied, “Two wrongs do not make a right.”
It was Sen. Mike Lee who brought this to mind when he defended President Donald Trump’s efforts to cancel the outcome of the recent election, sans evidence of widespread fraud. Sen. Lee defended the president by noting that the Democrats struck the first blow by refusing to accept Trump’s legitimate election in 2016 and since.
Sen. Lee was as right as I was 65 years ago when I struck back. Some Democrats and Never Trumpers had it in for President Trump even before he took office. But today, President Trump is just as wrong. I won’t attempt to argue which is more wrong lest my mom rise from the grave and repeat, “Two wrongs do not make a right.”
The Democrats said that the Republicans had it in for Obama for years by fighting his appointments and proposals without advancing their own, and they were right. The Republicans said … and often they were also right.
You get the idea. It’s time for all of us to mature past age 7. One way to do that is for all of us to flee the media silos whose business model would revert us all into 7-year-olds. I often make myself a hypocrite by arguing about my opponent’s hypocrisy. To cultivate grievance is not a solution, nor is it truth. Not at age 7, and not today.
Kerry Soelberg
West Jordan