Recently, it was reported that Mitt Romney bullied a prep school classmate. As the story goes, the classmate was gay and Romney and his friends assaulted him cutting off his hair. Romney wielded the scissors. When asked by reporters about the assault, Romney described it as "high school hijinks" and proceeded to give a patently half-hearted apology. An earlier story also described how Romney strapped the family dog (who was presumably in a crate of some sort) to the roof of the family car during a trip to Canada. Apparently, the dog was ill ("with the runs," as Romney describes it) and Romney did not want the dog in the car.
Clearly, Romney is a bully with no common sense - which is alarming enough given that he is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. But what is even more troubling is his appalling ethical deficit. Ethical public policy is premised on compassion, empathy and a desire not harm the weakest and most vulnerable of society. As Francis of Assisi put it, “If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and joy and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow man.”
How can one expect Romney to lead this country ethically and justly if he would brutally assault a gay classmate and strap a helpless, sick animal to the roof of his car on a cold, windy trip to Canada?
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