Trust May 15, 2013
By Leonard Zwelling
What
time is it kids?
It
must be 1973. Congress cannot get to the bottom of a foreign policy disaster in
which Americans died. The IRS is penalizing political enemies of the current
administration. The phone lines of reporters are being tapped by the federal government.
Shades of the Nixon White House, right?
It
is almost inconceivable that a Democratic administration could allow such
shenanigans to take place. Yet here we are—again! This is a irrefutable
confirmation that neither the Republican Red team nor Democratic Blues have a
stranglehold on corruption, as if those of us livingin Texas needed to be reminded of this.
The
real victims here besides those specifically targeted by terrorists, the tax
agency or ill-advised wire taps are the American people who once again have to
witness their own elected government run amok. I guess this will necessitate
new leadership capable of cleaning up the morass that has become Washington, DC
and restore the confidence of the people in their government. Trust is
everything and right now there is little trust of the government left in the
American people.
Restoring
confidence is a tough row to hoe. However, it can be done. Whether or not it
can be done by getting rid of layers of bureaucracy below the layer that is
immediately around the President (Attorney General, Secretary of State and
Secretary of the Treasury in these instances) or the entire government through
the natural electoral process will be one for the House and Senate to determine
if the “I” word begins to be used.
That is impeachment which is not at all impossible should the President
have been aware of any of the misdeeds and covered them up.
No
President can know everything done in his or her name. But every President is
responsible for all of it and when things go awry must be held accountable and
be expected to unburden the government of those directly responsible for the
errors. If the leader him or herself was responsible and did not own up to his
or her error on day one, then the ability of that person to lead will come into
question as will their effectiveness and wisdom.
Everyone
makes mistakes. It’s the cover-up that really does the damage.
Mr.
Obama’s enemies have been emboldened. They are likely to keep coming at him so
I hope he is being truthful about the details involving the Benghazi incident,
the supposedly rogue actions of the IRS and the stupidity of using subpoenas
against the Associated Press’ phone lines and reporters.
Now
is the time for real transparency. When the questions are coming hot and heavy,
it is best to tell all the truth as soon as possible. Get it out, get it all
out and get it all out the first day. The protracted dribble that appears to
characterize how the truth is emerging from both the Benghazi story and much of
our own troubles here at Anderson is what gives bad news “legs” and keeps it
alive in the public’s mind.
Festering
wounds are still best treated with incision and drainage prior to covering them
up with bandages. Light not just heat.
