Sunday, December 31, 2006

The Ford Legacy

Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States, died this week. He was 93.

Ford was not president long. He was the only president to never be elected to the office. He was a decent man as far as presidents and politicians go. But his presidency was overshadowed and undone by Watergate and his pardon of Richard Nixon. That pardon would cost him the election.

There are a lot of laudatory remarks about Ford this week and a bit of historical revisionism. Many people who were critical of Nixon's pardon such as Ted Kennedy reversed themselves and said that Ford had done the right thing. It is a bit sickening to watch this.

I'm not going to trash Ford as a person, but I will say that I disagree with his decision to let Tricky Dick off the hook. Watergate shattered the public's confidence in government. The American people couldn't let it go. So, Ford pardoned the criminal in order for America to move on, and that's what America did. This was unfortunate.

Nixon should have stood trial. He should have answered for his crimes. But it never came to that. And the reason why people give credit to Ford for his "wisdom" was because Ford moved to restore the people's faith in government. This is why even the political enemies of Nixon now reverse themselves because those enemies are first and foremost politicians with a vested interest in encouraging faith in government.

As a libertarian, I have no faith in government. Watergate was a good thing because it was a wake up call to the American people. Because of Watergate, Americans have a healthy cynicism regarding their elected officials. Ford cut this short, and he should not have done this. The only upside of the whole affair was that many considered the pardon another one of Nixon's "backroom deals." It wasn't, but it still pissed off a lot of people.

Goodbye, Mr. Ford.

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