31 July 2020 — 0911 mdt

As a general rule, the legal but stupid things one did in
high school should not be hanging offenses a decade later

But in the precincts of political correctness in today’s progressive politics, they are. The latest victim is Evan McCullers, hired in June, and fired in July, as the deputy press secretary for Steve Bullock’s senatorial campaign.

McCullers’ offense? Tweets from his high school days (2012–2014), denigrating women and homosexuals, that were unearthed by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication not averse to dumping dirt on Democratic candidates and their staff.

There’s no evidence McCullers still holds the views he expressed in his imprudent high school tweets. When boys become men — and McCullers is now a man — they usually discard their adolescent prejudices. McCullers certainly did: his adult conduct earned him a position as a spokesman for socially progressive Democrats.

But in today’s Democratic Party, where there’s no statute of limitations on teenaged indiscretions, and perishing little forgiveness, McCullers’ old Tweets condemned him to instant unemployment, to being sacrificed on the altar of political expedience by Bullock’s campaign.

One can argue that unfair as it was, McCullers’ swift dismissal was moral because it improved Bullock’s odds of beating Steve Daines; that what’s good for the many justifies what’s evil for the few. One can make that argument, perhaps with a modicum of merit. But I will not because one can argue with at least as much merit that forgiving McCullers’ old Tweets, besides being the right thing to do, would burnish Bullock’s credentials as an advocate for justice.

Perhaps Bullock’s campaign and Democratic leaders understand they gave McCullers a raw deal. Perhaps they will make amends by quietly helping him secure a job not connected directly to the party or campaign. I hope so. But I’m also aware that plenty of Democrats and progressives probably think McCullers’ petty sins must never be forgiven and cannot receive enough punishment. He may not get the second chance he deserves; the second chance we all deserve.

The progressive community’s inflexible belief that youthful misdeeds, however minor, cannot and must not be forgiven or forgotten, is unjust and unwise. It sets a standard of behavior that can be met only by accident. Imperfect humankind must compensate for its imperfections by creating governmental, social, and political, systems that provide second chances, forgiveness, and forgetfulness; that feature prosecutorial discretion, amnesty, pardons. When we reject such systems, we embrace authoritarianism and totalitarianism; decency no longer exists, hope disappears, and freedom no longer rings.

Fifty-six years ago, while in high school, while wrongly supposing that the libertarian conservative values held by some of my family were the Lord’s command, I supported Barry Goldwater for president. God forgave me. God will forgive Evan McCullers, too. So should Democrats.