In 9th grade English, we were assigned to read the book "Lord of the Flies". If you have not read it, put it on your summer reading list. From the moment I turned the first page, it captured my imagination. It's about a group of boys who get stranded on an island and attempt to govern themselves. Before long, things go very badly. I loved the character, Ralphie, who desperately tried to do the right things and get the group organized but few listened to his ideas.
I was excited to get back to class and discuss the book but others in class weren't reading it or didn't like it as much as I did. Terribly disappointed, I tried to get the class interested. But they just did what they had to do to get through the class.
I'm feeling that same sense of disappointment over the Mueller report. It's not hard to read and it's fascinating. If it seems like too many pages, just read the summaries at the beginning of each volume and the conclusions at the end.
How can any American not care that the Russians interfered with our election? Volume One of the report lays out some startling evidence of manipulation by Russian operatives. That interference has not stopped and failure to acknowledge it and directly confront it leaves our country vulnerable to widespread foreign interference. The volume also shows startling evidence of parallel activities by members of the current administration's staff as well as evidence tampering. While the investigators could not prove direct agreement to collaborate between the two parties, there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence to indicate that coordination was happening.
Add that last possibility to the findings in Volume Two. That volume outlines overwhelming evidence of obstruction. Mueller clearly stated that the president was not exonerated. Attorney General William Barr argued the opposite with an odd logic. His logic is that if criminal conspiracy (erroneously labeled "collusion") was not proven, there could not be criminal obstruction. Say what???
By his standards a person can commit a crime then successfully thwart the investigation and cover up the crime, then escape prosecution for both the crime AND the obstruction.
In this case, there would be no checks and balances for power and corruption.
We have a real problem here. Our constitution is built around a balance of power - Judicial, Congressional and Executive. Central is the rule of law. The thought was that the Judicial branch could offset the political influence that may come with executive and congressional branch power and control. With longer appointments, the judicial branch should have longer perspective that spans political will and is most focused on constitutional intent. But something went wrong.
The judicial branch, through a policy under which the Mueller team was guided, he determined that a president could not be indicted while in office. That leaves the judicial branch of government powerless. In case of potential criminal activity by the executive branch, only congress is now the safeguard through impeachment. Actually, now only the Senate is our safeguard. Only the Senate can hold the president accountable for federal crimes. ONLY the Senate and only after the House has raised impeachment. That's not a balance of power. That is not what the constitution intends. But that is what we now have.
Meanwhile, we have a president who is continuing to obstruct investigations into potential wrong doing. Every effort is being made to obstruct congress from seeing evidence. By the Attorney General's standard, that obstruction is perfectly legal unless a crime is proven. Really?!?
During the campaign, this president said he could walk down 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and everyone would still love him. With the current situation, as president, he could do that and not be indicted. He could ensure that evidence was buried. And if Senate Republicans "still love him", he could escape accountability.
It's an insane twist. We're headed toward having the same type of "democracy" that Russia has.
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