The last couple of days have seen the release of information on the Mueller investigation of President Trump. The President was cleared of collusion with Russia, and was given an unable-to-determine rating on the obstruction charge. Quite appropriately, Republicans are celebrating. But, they are not simply celebrating, they are beginning to threaten retribution. Now they want to investigate the investigators.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are promising to investigate the unsettled aspects of the Mueller investigation. Quite rightly, they point out that there were dozens of indictments handed out by the investigation, thus, while the investigation may not have directly indicted President Trump, it most certainly pointed to an undeniable climate of sleaze in the Presidential party. The sentences handed out point to that sleaze.
But, I am looking back over several years, and I see a problem that needs to be solved lest our democracy be slowly undone. And that is that both parties have now spent several years investigating two people for political gain. Why do I say for political gain? Because in both sets of investigations, neither of the two people being investigated were charged with any crimes. Both sets of investigations ended up with findings of insufficient evidence to indict those investigated.
Who are these two people? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump. In both cases, investigations showed both to be not guilty of the charges that partisan believers brought against them. In both cases, formal investigations were not able to substantiate the core charges. In both cases, there was evidence that some of the minor charges were probably accurate. However, the level of the proof behind those minor charges did not rise to the point where it would be worth prosecuting them.
But, there is a strong danger to our Democracy in what happened. In both cases, partisans forced investigations that probably should not have been undertaken. Even worse, in both cases, the news media associated with the various parties split on their reporting. Over the last six to ten years, the news media has been so badly splintered that it becomes difficult to ascertain what is true.
Who can forget the chants of, “Lock her up, lock her up,” during the campaign while Fox News and a bevy of fake-news conservative websites supported every possible false conspiracy theory? But, there were zero indictments against Secretary Hillary. Yet, to this day there are both Congresspeople and websites that claim some type of conspiracy theory that protected her. I know of no Republican who has openly conceded that the investigations were purely partisan and false.
Likewise, who can forget the chants of collusion from CNN and NBCNews that rang through the cable-sphere against President Trump? Multiple fake-news liberal websites supported every false conspiracy theory against the President. Even now, there are Congresspeople swearing to keep investigating President Trump while conveniently forgetting the statements they made while Secretary Clinton was being investigated.
From what I have seen on Facebook, most people are splitting up into one party or another, while completely ignoring that the exact same situation took place against the other side. Thus Hillary partisans want further Trump investigations, while Trump partisans are still claiming that somehow a secret conspiracy kept Hillary from being indicted. If you look at it neutrally, you can see how neither faction is thinking logically.
But, we are not currently thinking logically in this country. We have dropped into pure partisanship and have forsaken logic for a mess of pottage.
Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.) Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Genesis 25:29-34
As a country, we have a birthright of Christianity. That includes a high commitment to truth. Before some of you comment, yes, I realize that not all Founders were Christian according to some of today’s somewhat skewed definitions. And, I also realize that some of you are using anachronisms to try to condemn every Founding Father and Mother of this country. Nevertheless, the point is that there was a high commitment to truth. As I look over the last 10 years, I must say that any commitment to truth in this country appears to have been lost. Only rather sick partisanship remains on both sides of the aisle.
I fear for the future of this country, but it is not over whether Hillary’s views or Trump’s views will gain ascendance. There is a worse fate awaiting this country. We are in serious danger if we lose our ability to be impartial. The last 10 years show nothing but strict partiality. Both those who falsely accused Hillary and falsely accused Trump need to repent. You do not have to like either of them, but if innocent until proven guilty means anything, then you must give up your false stories against either of them. Either both are innocent or both are guilty. You cannot continue to play the games you have been playing and expect that God will bless us in any way, shape, or form.
Agree with most of what you say. It creates a downward spiral. This presents a different take. (Also 30 years of harassment against Mrs. Clinton does not equal investigations in what appears to be public corruption.) https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/25/1807242/–Both-sides-is-the-most-dangerous-and-insidious-narrative-in-today-s-political-climate?