I awoke last night from a nightmare dream: I was in my ancestral country of Argentina and I was afraid once again of the dictator named Juan Domingo Peron and his wife Evita. That was scary indeed. The government was dominated by a party that made the laws as they pleased and no one had the power to check them, let alone prosecute their misdeeds. Even the press was muzzled or complicit. Here the wife of the president had a special foundation, Fundacion Eva Peron that accepted donations from wealthy donors and who received special treatment from the government. Anyone who dared to challenge this state of affairs was in trouble and the debate over the propriety of any act was thus ended.
But it was morning now and I relaxed knowing that I was now in a democratic country protected by a Constitution, honest organizations and lack of corruption, where no one is above the law, ordinary citizens are not threatened by any arm of the government and where no special favors are dispensed to high donors or foreign entities. Here the law is equal for all, and we can be sure that no one gets special treatment because they give money to a special foundation. My night was over and with it that awful dream.
Suddenly, though, I saw a high government official who was testifying that she never sent any classified material incorrectly, who lied about keeping a private email server. When the secret was out, she and her staff were busy destroying evidence. But wait, the government was investigating and we could breathe easily. After months of “investigation” by top enforcers of the law, the government forgave her trespassing. They criticized her for just being “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information but let her off the hook. The FBI did not pursue evidence of any statements that could be false, did not investigate any obstruction of justice and the destruction of evidence.
Even more, the agents gave immunity to people who could have provided evidence of crimes and these people went on to plead the Fifth Amendment refusing to testify before Congress. The entire investigation by the FBI and the Department of Justice reeked of willful negligence or favoritism - that is, until this week when the investigation was reopened because of a new set of emails.
Even more striking, I saw that the Clinton Foundation and the State Department headed by Hillary Clinton were one seamless entity, employing the same people and coordinating schedules. Emails discovered by people outside of government -- who had forced their release against State Department wishes, showed that Clinton Foundation staff was questioning some State Department decisions by stating that President Clinton “will be very unhappy if that’s the case.”
Whoever thought this was possible in America? Is this what the country's Founding Fathers wanted?
Donors to the Foundation expected to receive special treatment such as being invited to State dinners or being given special business opportunities. The scandal of President Clinton in Haiti and his business partners, i.e., donors to the Foundation, and the confluence of extraordinarily high speaking fees at groups that later received profitable business deals and special access to the State Department headed by his wife—are these real or imagined?
To hide all this, a private server was created and hidden from sight until it was discovered and then the brazen destruction of evidence and public records began to take place. And no one challenged them effectively!
But the nightmare was not over. Now the same reenactment of Evita wants to be President and we can only expect more of the same if she gets elected. The contempt of Congress, the refusal of the Department of Justice to act when illegal acts are perpetrated by people in high places, and the contempt of Congress are dispiriting signs of what a Clinton Administration would look like.
As Laura Ingraham wrote concerning the possibility of Clinton nominating Supreme Court justices, “[With] five liberals on the Supreme Court . . . she can interpret any statute or rewrite any regulation as she sees fit. . . . If [she] uses the IRS to go after political enemies . . . the press would cover it up, and the courts would do nothing to stop her…What’s to prevent her from bringing in as many new immigrants as she wants . . . from using the Clean Air Act to impose her climate-change policies on the country, or interpreting the tax laws to punish companies she doesn’t like, or reinterpreting the Obamacare legislation however she wants, or changing any federal regulations in ways that advance her political agenda?”
Was this another nightmare or was it happening in broad daylight? I was reliving the past; the same bells were ringing in my head. I had heard them before and I never thought I would hear them in the USA. Whoever thought this was possible in America? Is this what the country's Founding Fathers wanted? I was traveling back in time and now I was awake but the nightmare is still with me. I am no longer sure I want to live in a country where such things happen - that is, if people shrug their shoulders as if nightmares like this are the norm.
