JESSE JACKSON AND HIS LOSS OF RESPECT
After witnessing Jesse Jackson's attempt to send the presidential election in Florida into total chaos, and then observing his momentary "stepping out of the spotlight" because of the discovery of his illegitimate child, I decided to vocalize my thoughts and transfer them onto paper.

When I looked up Jesse Jackson in a Collier's Encyclopedia, I was surprised to find more than one full page devoted solely to him; a page and a half to be exact. This amazed me, but not overly so, for I am concerned how this one man can seem to cause so much trouble. And don't start crying "racist" and summoning me to the deep, dark, fiery furnaces of hell. It seems to me that every time someone objects to the actions of Jesse Jackson, they are portrayed as a racist, which is completely unjustified. You can't stereotype someone just because they don't believe the same way you do. Race plays no part in my life, because it doesn't matter, and it has no relevance in my day-to-day life. Culture matters to me, yes, but not race. It shouldn't even have to matter.
I respected Jackson, even if I didn't agree with him. I respected him because he came out of hardships and a bad family situation to seek a life that would help others. And I respected that. I understand when someone tries to help a certain group and tries to end discrimination against them. I have no problem with that. Alan Keyes fights for the same things, yet he probably doesn't even have a perch in the Collier's Encyclopedia. But if you work towards granting special privileges and rights towards a certain group that are not available to everyone else, it's just as much discrimination against non-members of the specified group, because then they do not get as many rights as others and are therefore discriminated against. Discrimination works more ways than one.

As I was saying, I did respect Jackson. Until the whole Florida ballot fiasco, and my doubts were reconfirmed with his adulterous affair that was recently "discovered."

Regarding Florida, the left wing's efforts to incite chaos were utterly pathetic. Before Jackson journeyed on his Palm Beach Escapade, it was already a pile of unpleasant waste down there. Jackson and his circus had no reason to go down there in the first place. I personally and sensibly believe that he did in fact go to Florida to incite people into a frenzy thinking that they had been victimized by ballot fraud. The Democrats blamed the Republicans for this, when actually if there was mass ballot fraud, it consisted of Democratic canvassing boards that tried to keep recounting ballot after ballot until Gore came out on top. Fortunately, they did not accomplish their goal. I'm not saying that some people were not discriminated against at the polls. Voter discrimination and ballot fraud have and always will occur in elections. But to try and incite havoc and ruin the electoral process is corrupt and absurd, which is what Jackson and his circus did. Trying to change the system in the midst of its functions just because your guy lost is not the way to go.

Also, it was recently "discovered" that Jackson had an affair that produced an illegitimate child one to two years ago, and has been paying "support" for the child ever since. I'm not saying that Jackson should be condemned for having an adulterous relationship, even though I do personally believe adultery to be wrong. He is human, and, just like the rest of us, he's going to make mistakes. But it does seem ironic that he himself was a child out of wedlock, born to a teenage mother. My question is that after experiencing all the hardships he has experienced, including his birth status and his unfortunate family situation, how could he then turn around later in his life and do the exact same thing to another child, and another woman? On the other hand, it is appropriate to say that he learned from the best, in this case our former president. I also believe that he should have immediately revealed to the public that he fathered an illegitimate child, instead of letting the media miraculously dig it up for themselves, which was wonderous considering how liberally biased the media is. Jackson, as soon as his adulterous fling was "discovered" by the media, declared that he would "step out of the national spotlight" to contemplate what he had done and to consult with his family and friends. But guess what? Four days later, Jackson was back at it, hammering away at the newly elected Republican administration. I'm not trying to scold Jackson for his mistakes, his personal life, or what goes on in his bedroom. I'm just attempting to discover the motives behind his actions. Four days? That seems like an awfully short grieving period for Jackson's moral conscience.

I applaud the auditing of Jackson's taxes. It would be very interesting to see where he receives his source of income. He doesn't have a real job, yet have you seen what he has been paying the mother of this child? It seems a little more than sufficient, wouldn't you say? It would almost seem like hush money, I'd say.

I don't condemn Jackson for his affair, but I question how he handled the aftermath. Instead of publicly announcing what had taken place, he tried to hide it. He would have gotten away with it under the former administration, which would have found some other scandal to divert the headlines. But he won't get away with it under the new one. And go ahead and call me racist and other things I'm not just because I don't approve of Jackson's course of action and you defend it. This is a man that many looked up to, black or white, liberal or conservative, rich or poor, including me. But when you do something that he did, which I might add concerns not so much the adultery factor than how Jackson handled it, you no longer have a worthy role model. Concealment and lies were part of the former administration, but once again morals are back in the White House, and the office of President is again a service instead of a possession. Jackson has an uphill battle to regain the respect he has lost, at least in my mind, as well as those like me and others.