The Triumph of Dubious Cover-Ups by Government Officials

IWB ^ | LV

[davikkm]

In the third quarter of the nineteenth century, when he was confronted with damning evidence of Tammany Hall corruption, William “Boss” Tweed famously challenged anyone who made such an accusation with this taunt: “Well, what are you going to do about it?” That’s how powerful and invulnerable Boss Tweed thought he and his cabal of cronies were. They ran New York City with an iron fist and believed they could do whatever they pleased to line their pockets. Tweed got away with his illicit gains for some time before justice finally caught up with him. Ultimately, he was arrested, convicted and incarcerated for his crimes and died a broken man in 1878. But that was a long time ago and a different era.

The last major political scandal where justice was meted out to high-ranking federal government officials occurred almost a half century ago. That’s when a bungled burglary at the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee, followed by an attempted cover-up, led to criminal charges against a number of Nixon administration advisors and operatives, many of whom did jail time. Among those incarcerated was U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell. Ultimately, President Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace.

[chajin]

So what does this mean? It means that it’s probably a safe bet for public officials to risk breaking the law if they perceive it is in their interest to do so. If they are suspected of committing a crime or are actively under investigation, the odds are in their favor if they try to cover-up what they did because it doesn’t matter if they are caught.

One addition is necessary: the official must be a liberal/socialist Democrat.