Was Carter right to pardon the draft dodgers?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Ford gave a conditional pardon. He said they could return if they took an oath of reallegiance to the country and agreed to do some public service. i'll give him credit for doing at least that, but of course i think what Carter did was definately the best thing to do.

[??????????]

No, they should have been jailed for treason.

[PBrunsel]

They fled like cowards, they should have been deported to France.

Just kidding.

[Schmitz in 1972]

I believe that the decision to pardon the draft dodgers was a good decision. But whether or not it was the right decision I'm not quite sure of.

[The Duke]

He was right.

[JohnFKennedy]

He was right.

He was right although I would not have pardoned them personally as I don't think they did anything wrong.

[TommyC1776]

I thought Reagan pardoned the draft dodgers.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

He was right.

He was right although I would not have pardoned them personally as I don't think they did anything wrong.

that doesn't make any sense. if you don't think they did anything wrong, like me, why not pardon them?

[JohnFKennedy]

He was right.

He was right although I would not have pardoned them personally as I don't think they did anything wrong.

that doesn't make any sense. if you don't think they did anything wrong, like me, why not pardon them?

It makes perfect sense. If they didn't do anything wrong then what is there to pardon them for? So what you are saying is you would pardon them for no apparent reason.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

no, the purpose the pardon was to remove all criminal charges.

[JohnFKennedy]

no, the purpose the pardon was to remove all criminal charges.

But if you pardon someone, it presumes they have done something wrong, if I do not think they have then I would not pardon them. I would drop the charges but I would say I am not pardoning them because I don't think they have done anything for which I should pardon them.

What I said made perfect sense, pardoning someone for doing something that you don't believe is wrong effectively implies that they have done something wrong as otherwise there would be no reason to do so.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

well pardon just means to drop the charges. that's the case here. it's called a President Pardon. If you drop any charges, you've pardoned someone whether you think they did any wrong or not.

For example, there was once a woman who's boyfriend was a cocaine dealer. She knew that he did it, but not that he sold it. Once while at his house he took a message for him from a customer, and after they were busted, she arrested as an "accomplice" even though she had no clue what was going on. But she was pardoned by Clinton. Does that mean Clinton thought she did anything wrong?

[JohnFKennedy]

well pardon just means to drop the charges. that's the case here. it's called a President Pardon. If you drop any charges, you've pardoned someone whether you think they did any wrong or not.

For example, there was once a woman who's boyfriend was a cocaine dealer. She knew that he did it, but not that he sold it. Once while at his house he took a message for him from a customer, and after they were busted, she arrested as an "accomplice" even though she had no clue what was going on. But she was pardoned by Clinton. Does that mean Clinton thought she did anything wrong?

I would not call that a pardon as pardon means to forgive someone, how can you forgive them for something they did not do/if they did nothing wrong?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

in the context used here a pardon means to drop charges, nothing more.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

President Ford had the right idea. The most charitable interpretation of draft dodging is that it was a form of civil disobediance.  While civil disobediance is often laudible, it should never been seen as a reason for non-punishment for breaking the law. Any person who engages in civil disobediance and is offended by being punished for it has missed the point.

[The Duke]

JFK,

Carter's pardon didn't mean that dodging the draft was wrong in a moral sense, just that it was illegal.  It was illegal, therfore a pardon is required to avoid jail time.

[The Dowager Mod]

Like ford pardoning nixon carter was trying to heal some wounds from the war.
it was absolutely the right thing to do,not everyone has a rich powerful family to buy a deferment.

[qwerty]

I think that the pardon should not have been un-conditional. They should have been required to take an oath of loyalty at the very least.

[PBrunsel]

Many of them were sentenced to community service, but few draft dodgers did their service. The dodgers should have just done community service and then get pardoned.

[Giant Saguaro]

In the end it was probably, maybe, quite possibly the right decision, but I do support conditions or obligations the dodgers would have to meet in order to receive the pardon. It's too hard to completely ignore or forget about the sacrifice the folks made who did go.

[Nym90]

Yes. I don't believe in the draft. No one should ever be forced to fight in a war against their will.

[Dr. Cynic]

Yes. I don't believe in the draft, especially since my uncle was sent to Vietnam, even though he was too old, after some state congressman told the draft board not to take his son, and to take my uncle, because my uncle was good with mechanics, and could fix any car that could run.