The long, slow death of the rule of law in America

OC Register ^ | Aug. 27, 2015 | TROY SENIK

[MarvinStinson]

The most disturbing aspect of the scandal around Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server during her tenure as secretary of state is not the former first lady’s penchant for secrecy.

What’s truly unsettling is that it has been widely taken as read among both the media and the general public that Mrs. Clinton will likely avoid serious legal consequences for her behavior because the Justice Department is ultimately answerable to President Obama – and Democrats will not use the instruments of government to destroy one of their own. Whether that eventually proves true, the sentiment itself reveals a troubling trend in American politics.

It’s unnerving that the segments of society charged with keeping those officials in check – namely, the media and the voters – now regard such lack of principle as so unremarkable that it barely merits mention. We have transformed into a country in which it’s difficult to imagine precisely what kind of official malfeasance would be met with more than a shrug of the shoulders.

The Justice Department, for example, already took a pass on prosecuting Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center of the scandal in which conservative groups were singled out for special scrutiny by the federal government on the basis of their political beliefs. If there’s anything that ought to be a matter of consensus in American politics, it’s that holding the reins of power doesn’t give you carte blanche to turn the power of the state against your partisan rivals. Yet Ms. Lerner, having done that very thing, doesn’t seem to be much worse for the wear.

This hands-off trend isn’t limited by any means to the DOJ. Consider the current debate over the nuclear deal with Iran.

[FlingWingFlyer]

This is why the commie ‘RATS will never get our guns. They can make all the laws they want. Laws mean absolutely nothing these days in this country. Obeying laws has become voluntary.

[MarvinStinson]

bump

[ClearCase_guy]

This is probably the biggest real change I can think of in the past 25 years. We are clearly a two-tier society, and the laws exist only to keep the lower tier in its place. There are no laws for the upper tier.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Might be time to take the just us department out of the hands of the President and make it part of the judiciary.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting this!

[DJ Frisat]

"Democrats will not use the instruments of government to destroy one of their own."

It's not about personal destruction, it's about the rule of law and protecting the security of United States government secrets.

lt's about doing the right thing.

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

Heavy use of private emails across all agencies signifies an 0dingo shadow gov't with treasonous activities hidden from public scrutiny, including Congress and the media.

Throw them all in federal prison. This is a conspiracy like none before.

[Paladin2]

All of us are free to implement our own laws. F ‘em.

[gaijin]

TRICKLE DOWN AFRICA

[MarMema]

This is great, thanks for posting. In clicking on the link and viewing the sidebar I am even more saddened because I never thought I would live in a country that said “please stop feeding the homeless”.

[MichaelCorleone]

And I thought it was bad with Jamie Gorelick and Jon Corzine, both who should be buiding railroads in the mid west in some chain gang.

I would think the likes of Martha Stewart would be up in arms about the hypocrisy. What she allegedly did was childs play compared to so many others.

If I was Amb. Stevens I’d be haunting Hillary every night.

[LucyT]

Article and comments.

Thanks, MarvinStinson.

[Jacquerie]

Last para:

"There are only two options available here: Either the country returns to a form of government bound by the strictures of the Constitution and its subordinate laws or we give up the ghost and accept the fact that our politics are now entirely about power rather than principle – that we live in a nation where the president, whether his name is Obama or Trump, is limited only by the boundaries of imagination."

A government that once operated with our consent has become an open despotism .

Elections have evolved; they serve to condone tyranny.

[gaijin]

Troy Senik

He's just a staff writer, but that was an excellent column.

[central_va]

Nothing is ever going to stick to the Beast.

[Tench_Coxe]

"This is probably the biggest real change I can think of in the past 25 years. We are clearly a two-tier society, and the laws exist only to keep the lower tier in its place. There are no laws for the upper tier."

What the upper tier is afraid of is that the lower tier figures this out. And its happening.

One can only hope we don't get a French Revolution.

[Poison Pill]

and Democrats will not use the instruments of government to destroy one of their own.

See: Night of the Long Knives

[FlingWingFlyer]

If the Kenyan and his illegal aliens can ignore the law, surely we Americans can ignore the law also. After all, it’s our country, not theirs.

[gaijin]

Cheating teacher administrator - heavy punishment

steroid baseball player - heavy punishment

IRS terrorist - NO punishment

Overthrow country with your own pop-up CIA, kill Ambassador - NO punishment