When serving as Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, appointed by President George W. Bush, unanimously confirmed by a Democrat-controlled Senate, I visited troubled lands – places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Colombia, Bolivia, Laos, earlier Guatemala, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel. I held up the US system of Justice as imperfect but impartial. The raid on former President Trump’s home – and what it implies – changes that.
Our system of justice seems to be broken. Rather than fairly applying laws to all Americans, avoiding the perception of partisan application, working to assure public trust with a focus on equal treatment, due process, precedents, no political interference, we are slipping.
How are we slipping? For starters, even before discussing the FBI’s improvident raid on a former president’s home, we are blurring important lines. National leaders within the Democratic Party are more enamored of left-leaning activists, it seems than impartiality.
What does that mean? It means that a critical distinction, between politically affiliated leaders and traditional line agents, is being lost. Worse, line agents are being vilified as leaders skate.
Contrary to respect for rule of law and those who risk life for us, many Democrats continue to diminish, defund, and demoralize “line agents.” This is just wrong, as they serve with courage.
Border Patrol members riding horses on the border are tagged with false narratives, vilified for “whipping” illegal aliens – which they did not. The President does nothing.
Members of Congress push anti-police legislation, while President Biden signs Executive Orders stripping federal agents of “nonlethal and lifesaving resources.” At the same time, violent crime and homicides spike, ambushes, attacks, shootings of police hit record levels.
Brave line agents are also diminished in other ways, made the “fall guy” for political leaders. From 2020 to now, left-wing activists push political violence, street riots, placing urban and suburban communities in fear, drive up gun sales (i.e., women and minorities), attack hundreds of pro-life pregnancy centers, stalk Supreme Court Justices and their families – all wrong.
Rather than support line agents, Democrats undercut them. Accordingly, leading cities are on track to surpass crime rates spiking in 2021, and the anti-police storyline continues.
All this stands in contrast to the past, and to a traditionally unified, non-political admiration for law enforcement, which historically produced high public trust and cooperation, along with global respect.
Ironically, as leading Democrats accuse line agents of “systemic racism” and lack of professionalism, cutting their budgets, damaging morale, recruiting, and retention, top political actors – including those in the Obama and Biden White Houses, Justice Departments, and FBIs turned political. This is the flipside of the coin, amounts to a double mistake.
The list of seemingly political acts is disturbing. As if returning to J. Edgar Hoover, the last decade is riddled with political acts by top law enforcement, near-zero accountability.
By way of example, Hillary Clinton bypassed any penalties, despite removal, concealment, loss, and mishandling of classified materials, an email scandal, server destruction, 2016 approval of a fictional narrative to damage candidate Donald Trump, fundraising for a personal foundation from foreign sources while Secretary of State, Benghazi’s calamity, prior oddities like “Travelgate,” Whitewater, oddly profitable cattle futures. In short, much was overlooked.
At the same time, high-level, overtly anti-Trump actors at the FBI and Justice pushed a “Russia Collusion” storyline, aided by Hill Democrats who pursued two hurried presidential impeachments, neither following regular order, constitutional precedent, or due process.
Now comes the cherry on top, a sudden, unnecessary, 30-agent, guns drawn raid on a former president, including his wife’s garment closet, after he reportedly offered open review of the relevant boxes of documents, later carted away at gunpoint in what seemed a bad movie.
Frankly, this is the kind of behavior one might expect in a “third world,” unstable, sectarian, crime-ridden country where Justice, law enforcement, and judiciary are loaded with politics, an arm of the ruling political party. That is political corruption, and one does not expect it here.
Where do we go from here? While truth seems hard to find, we must stay calm and seek it. While public trust is in freefall, country divided, many shocked, politicians fanning the fire, we must hope for public wisdom, hope scrutiny prevails, hope the truth emerges.
Most of all, while we live in an age of disappointments, default to passion over reason, history says we get through this – if we are resilient, keep our heads, value rule of law, believe in ourselves and Constitution. If visiting troubled lands today, I would acknowledge our faults, then champion our Constitution. It matters – but first here. The world is watching, we must do better.
Truth is not hard to find it is staring us in the face and has been for a long time we just did not react accordingly at the time and now are caught in the web of lies and deceit
Until there is a change of administration things will not get better…just stating a fact.
Yes Biden DID do something about the so called whipping of the illegal aliens, he SAID they would be punished, when the photographer SAID they were not whipping the illegal aliens. But it seem the Democrats support everyone BUT the legal citizens of this country.
US Government , includes Congress and oval office, is in a quagmire of poop!
It is truly a sad ???? ???? ???? ???? day when IRS and DOJ agencies can invade a citizens home ILLEGALLY AND EVEN STEAL PASSPORTS ! It is a huge travesty to have a POTUS who proposes to hire an army of IRS agents to harass Americans-!
Somebody , somewhere-, somehow had best DO … SIGNIFICANT ACTION (s) !!!!!!!
We will only do better when the Democrats have no power, Zero, Zillich, Hamstrung, Noda, Whipped into Submission, Powerless, where there are only enough for a 4 Person Poker game where the only people, they can Cheat are each other. The way you tell if a Democrat is lying, is to watch and see if their lips are moving, if they are moving, they are lying.
RBC,
The system of justice in this country is far from seeming to be broken. It is in fact quite badly broken and has been for a number of years. It is just far more apparent to the average person on the street that is finely getting to see the blantant two-tiered, weaponized justice system on display nearly daily in this country.
If you are a high ranking Democrat, you can commit virtually any crime and you are shielded by various federal agencies and the mainstream media from any accountability or potential prosecution. You are Teflon as they like to say. Nothing sticks to you, no matter how much evidence exists of your criminal behavior. If on the other hand, you happen to be a Republican of any stature at all, from a person on the street to the former POTUS, it’s open season on you whether you have commiitted any legitimate criminal violations or not. Simply being a Republican is now reason enough to be a target of our justice system. If you are Republican politician, a lawyer representing a Republican or even just a concerned parent daring to speak out about the forced indoctrination of your own children by th left in this country, then you will be hounded, arrested and prosecuted for imaginary crimes against the government.
So please less pie in the sky rhetoric about “history says we get through this – if we are resilient, keep our heads, value rule of law, believe in ourselves and Constitution”, because the Constitution and rule of law is under attack literally every single day by the Left in this country. This problem won’t go away by burying our heads in the sand and just hoping the Left decides to give up their agenda at some point. That’s NOT going to happen. Why on earth would they ever consider doing that, when they are successful at their current approach in most cases. Hoping a problem just magically goes away is not how problems of any sort are ever really solved. Problems are solved by facing the issues head on and then working to actively solve them by whatever means is appropriate based on the type of problem that exists.
When the president of our Nation can state, this is a law that will not be enforced, when congress members and senators are not held accountable for public statements that they will support lawless actions. We the People are at fault, when appointed an GS workers are allowed and encouraged to ignore laws that are passed, we the People are at fault. Our foundling Fathers was far sighted putting in place check and balances to allow protection from government, we the People are not holding up our end of the bargain.
Once we lost our will to work hard and allowed our elected officials, (at all levels), to make regulations and laws without any input from us, or threw up our hands, saying they will not listen to me, I’m just the working class, or I’m a poor man, or my skin is not the right color. Or it’s ok the government owes me that money each month. We the People gave our Nation away.
Is it to late? I don’t know but hopping that the people who are in office now will have a epiphany and change isn’t going to happen! How is this going to be corrected, just might be more than most can stomach. But I for one shall try to do my part, and keep praying also
Afghanistan hasty and misguided withdrawal was being watched which has, at least in part, lead to Putin’s war against Ukraine. China is watching and it is a wonderful thing that what they are seeing is somewhat of a reasonable resolve by the west not only aide Ukraine with military equipment but also the failings of Russia.
Biden, like failure Barry O, is “leading from behind.” Of course, that is IMPOSSIBLE! Leaders are at the forefront and are proactive; they don’t sit on their “donkeys” and react AFTER an enemy does something!
If Trump were in office, the Ukrainians would be FREE and the Taiwanese wouldn’t have anything to worry about! Plus Americans would have a lot more money and a lot less bills!
Robert Charles identifies many weaknesses in our American form of justice and government.
And obviously, he further calls for a general effort of the people in our society to correct these issues along with others not cited.
I agree with the points contained in most of Mr. Charles article except his concern with
“world opinion”. Really, does it matter if this German citizen, or that Cuban subject thinks that we are not a people to emulate? Consider one aspect of a country that appears to present the image of a heaven on Earth to any foreigner who cares to notice. I’m almost sure that more than a dozen citizens in foreign countries would make the effort to enter the United States with a visa, or otherwise. Wait, …….. could this be one of the reasons that tens of thousands of foreigners already wade across the Rio Grande every year?
Immigration is not necessarily a bad thing because many foreigners have skills, or ideas that would be beneficial to our society. What is not needed are those illegal aliens who only seek the welfare support that the United States is famous for.
We Americans face the challenge to improve our quality of life, either through the civil method of voting, or by the violent act of a general upheaval. Nothing is chiseled in stone that the American Revolution would be the last one.
The U.S. has been edging toward Socialism since 1913. Sometimes slowly, other times rapidly. If the U.S. falls to Socialism, much of the world will do the same. If the U.S. can win back our freedoms by our votes, many others will follow.
“When a nation forgets it’s God, tyrants soon forge it’s chains.” Patrick Henry. Who created this world? Who created mankind? For to long to many have pursued the American dream….not holding elected officials accountable. Just voting the party ticket instead of actively investigating the candidates. How many have actively been involved in local elections? State elections? Vetted candidates…or even gone to their state assembly? Our Constitution is very plain in this “Of the People, By the People, For the People.” Where have the people been the last few years? The saddest and most damaging part to this nation is trying to put God in the corner…or visiting the local church on Sunday and then just going about business as usual the rest of the week…America corporately has ignored it’s moral Compass. And we’re paying a very steep price.
We need to get rid of the UNGODLY democrats and put GOD back in our country!