Forget about those documents, get back to important business
Wow! The Media has had a great time reporting about those classified documents found just about everywhere. I’m not sure there is anyone left around the country to provide input about what these classified documents mean.
First, they found several boxes of documents in former President Trump’s various properties (much to the delight of the Democrats). Then, they found at least three batches of classified documents in President Biden’s homes (much to the delight of the Republicans). Later, they found several classified documents in former Vice-President Pence’s home (much to the delight of nobody; Pence is an honest Christian man).
Frankly, if I were a former president or vice-president (or any other high ranking official), I would immediately look around and make sure there were no hidden classified documents anywhere on my property.
So, what does all of this mean to those of us who aren’t even sure what a classified document is? Well, apparently there are a lot of other people who aren’t sure either. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has appointed two special counsels to look into the matter with Trump and Biden, and may do the same with Pence. Who knows? It normally takes a special counsel around a year to spend enough of our money to form a conclusion, so we may not really know for some time.
Regardless, there are some issues about these classified documents that are very unclear to most of us. First of all, unless I have missed out on some important congressional history, I thought that the president and vice-president had the highest secrecy clearance available. I thought they were cleared to handle all classified documents, and it’s nigh on impossible to keep all of them in your official office. Now, I realize that those documents are supposed to be turned in when they leave office, but that probably isn’t as easy as it sounds. So, having a few classified documents in your home doesn’t sound all that exciting to me.
Second, while I suppose some of these people like Donald Trump have huge homes and estates, it seems a little strange to me that no one spotted classified documents lying around at home. Granted that I do not have a huge home, but I can assure you that there are no classified documents lying around that I do not know about; and I do have some classified documents — no, not political ones, but for example tax records and financial records. I even know where the cookie jar is. How does a person not know what is in his home for over two years? Maybe
they don’t stay at home enough or have too many people working for them.
Thirdly, while I do not want to reflect too lightly about these classified documents, they surely must not be earth-shattering ones. Considering how all of the really important stuff in congress is routinely leaked to the rest of the world, one has to wonder what kinds of secrets these documents actually contain. Can they really be important enough to occupy around a fourth of the media’s time on television?
Considering that we have had a former president who attempted to overthrow our government, a newly elected congressman who lied about everything in his life in order to get elected and is now on two prestigious House committees, a new Speaker of the House who finally managed to get elected after 15 ballots by one vote, 39 mass killings during the first three weeks of 2023, and four mysterious objects recently shot down for flying in our air space, one has to wonder how these so-called hidden classified documents stack up in importance. Speaking as a concerned citizen who has voted in every major election, I say forget about those documents; if they belong to someone else, just box them up and get rid of them. Let’s get on with running our country with at least some kind of integrity. Robert Box has been a law enforcement chaplain for 30 years. He is a master-level chaplain with the International Conference of Police Chaplains and is an endorsed chaplain with the American Baptist Churches USA. He also currently serves as a deputy sheriff chaplain for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. Opinions expressed are those of the author and not the agencies he serves.