Back before the election last November (and the heady rush immediately afterward), the Democrats repeatedly assured us that they would not conduct a “government by investigation,” that they would not try to govern by investigations and hearings and subpoenas. They were focused on the future, not the past, and would devote their efforts towards moving forward.
Well, that lasted long. And foolish were the people who took them at their word.
We’re seeing now precisely what so many predicted, and so many denied: government by investigation. Rumors become insinuations, insinuations become allegations, allegations become accusations, and the next thing you know someone’s headed for jail.
The philosophy behind it seems to be “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” The only problem with that theory is when it’s being applied by a lynch mob bearing pitchforks and torches. When you’re carrying a torch and looking for smoke, you tend to find it pretty readily.
So we have the spectacle now of endless investigations, prosecutions, panels, and the like unleashed by the Congress against the White House.
This is the sort of time when I reconsider some choices I’ve made in my life. A long time ago, I decided that I would not seek positions of power and influence. I would take them, on occasion, mainly on the theory of “keep the power out of the hands of the pinheads,” but I wouldn’t enjoy it, and look for ways out of it as soon as convenient.
Part of the reason for that is principle, but another part is self-awareness. I have a particularly twisted mind, and a mildly vindictive streak, and I know that every now and then I indulge those tendencies. And were I in the White House, I pretty much know what course I would counsel.
“Congress is conducting a series of criminal investigations, threatening people with jail, and even sending some of them to jail. I think we need to remind them that while they can do that, we — the Executive — have the original, accept no substitute version of that power.”
In other words, if they wanna play the prosecution game, bring it on.
Dianne Feinstein recently resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee after it was revealed that her husband’s companies had received literally billions of dollars from that committee. Sounds like solid grounds for a major investigation right there, perhaps even enough to make her husband, Richard Blum, “Scooter” Libby’s cellmate.
Nancy Pelosi’s family, as I understand it, owns a vineyard and some hotels. I’ve also heard rumors that they might employ a great number of illegal aliens. I think ICE ought to give them a thorough examination — after all, we can’t have the woman two heartbeats away from the presidency to be even slightly touched by scandal.
Louisiana congressman William “Cold Cash” Jefferson Clinton was caught with almost a hundred thousand dollars in his freezer that he has yet to give a plausible explanation for — or, for that matter, any explanation whatsoever. He’s still in office, still a Democrat in good standing, still under investigation — and nearly triggered a Constitutional crisis. Time to ratchet up that investigation, see just where that money came from — and who else might have tapped into that source of money.
Harry Reid has been involved in all sorts of questionable real estate deals, and his son is a major power player in Las Vegas. I think it’s well past time to start going over his dealings with a fine-toothed comb — considering the influence organized crime and big labor (but I repeat myself) have there, the idea that he’s squeaky-clean boggles the imagination.
There’s just rour off the top of my head. Considering the leadership positions of Feinstein, Pelosi, and Reid, I’m sure that if they’re dirty, they’re symptomatic of a “culture of corruption” that infests and dominates the Democratic Party in Congress. Who knows how deep it runs? I think only a full investigation — with witnesses compelled to testify under threats of perjury — can assure the American people that those who hold the reins of power on Capitol Hill are worthy of that trust.
After all, as I’ve heard numerous people say, “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”
If that’s the game they want to play, then so be it. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. You’re in the big league now, Democrats, at the high stakes table. You wanna go all in?
Bring it on.
And that is precisely why I should never hold public office.
