On Trump's proposed pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio

We on the Left have to be very careful that we don't let ourselves become just as hateful as the other side.

If both sides represent hate, then there's no point in supporting either side.  But if one side can represent love and forgiveness instead of hate, then that is the side that I want to be on.

Let's be clear, Joe Arpaio is an awful person.  But he's no longer a threat.  He's been removed from his office.

There is nothing to be gained by making him suffer.

After reading Louis Fischer's biography of Gandhi, it is clear to me that Gandhi would have not opposed pardoning Joe Arpaio, because Gandhi always believed in showing forgiveness to his opponents.

And if I can repeat myself from when I blogged about Kim Davis:

Historically, this same spirit was once associated with the anarchist movement.  When a crazed rightest tried to kill the anarchist Louise Michel during a speaking engagement, she forgave her attempted assassin and even intervened in the courts to save him.
Anarchist Voltairine de Cleyre also forgave her assassin and refused to prosecute him.
While it is true that this sentiment has not been universal in the history of Leftism, to the extent that it exists, I would like to identify myself with it.

To this history, let me add two more examples which I forgot to include before:

Thomas Paine on the French Revolution:
"If, on my return to America, I should employ myself on a history of the French Revolution, I had rather record a thousand errors on the side of mercy, than be obliged to tell one act of severe justice."
To paraphrase Thomas Paine, if I should ever employ myself on a history of Leftism in America, I had rather record a thousand errors on the side of mercy, than be obliged to tell one act of severe justice.

One more example of the history of mercy shown on the Leftist side:
Sandinista leader Tomas Borge who, after the revolution in Nicaragua,
walked into the prison and found the national guard soldiers of Somoza who had castrated him, had killed his wife, and had forced him to watch while seventeen men gang raped and then killed his daughter. Borge embraced them and told them he forgave them, and let them go free.

These acts of mercy are our legacy, if we on the Left choose to live up to them.

So don't waste your life talking on twitter about how you want your enemies to suffer.  Embrace mercy, and do not oppose the pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.