We're taught it from our early school days, and it's repeated by politicians, journalists and citizens of all stripes - the American system of representative government is based on a system of checks and balances. Each of the executive, legislative and judicial co-equal branches of government is designed to act as a check on the others.
As government posts are occupied by people with human foibles, including the quest for power, no system can operate with absolute perfection. Words on paper are meaningless unless people holding responsible positions protect our institutions, including exercising checks and balances of government. This depends on trust in those holding power.
While there have been many historical incidents of misuse of governmental power, our system of checks and balances has worked reasonably well to preserve our nation through war, economic depression and numerous other crises.
But now, the system is being put to another severe test. Trust is being violated by powerful people, including by the nation's most powerful Republican outside of the executive branch of government, House Speaker Paul Ryan.
It has long been clear to anyone paying attention that President Trump has absolutely no conception of the crucial role of checks and balances. This is clearly exhibited by his public defamation of the judiciary, his declaration of the press as an "enemy of the people" and his current trashing of the FBI.
The quest for power is human, and the quest to extend presidential power did not originate with Trump. But his past experience was limited to being the final authority holding the money and power in his real estate empire. He is not accustomed to dealing with equals. His modus operandi is to destroy individuals and institutions that stand in his way. Ruthless power has served him well in business. But in government, without exercise of checks and balances, ruthless use of power leads to dictatorship.
President Trump is systematically attempting to destroy our checks and balances. This is where public trust in individuals who are charged with exercising checks and balances is being violated. Instead of stepping up to the plate, congressional Republicans, led by Paul Ryan, are enabling Trump's abuse of power.
Granted, members of Congress will be partisan. However, the congressional intelligence committees charged with providing oversight of agencies such as the FBI and the CIA are expected to put the welfare of the nation above party. House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunez has flagrantly violated this principle. With this, the buck stops with Ryan, who has the power to remove him as committee chair.
Let's review some significant points of this tangled web.
Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College because everything that could have gone wrong did. These include serious tactical and strategic blunders of the campaign, false equivalence coverage by the mainstream media, voter suppression, Democratic voter apathy and Russian meddling. The final nail in the coffin of the Clinton campaign was the untimely announcement by FBI Director James Comey regarding resumption of the Hillary Clinton investigation - without mentioning investigation of the Trump campaign.
While Comey can be criticized for that untimely announcement, it is to his credit that he continued the ongoing FBI investigation into Russian meddling of the campaign. As he correctly refused to pledge loyalty to Trump, and continued the investigation, Trump promptly fired him.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions correctly recused himself from the Russian investigation. Newly appointed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to lead the investigation regarding Russian meddling.
Through Mueller's investigation, several men involved in Trump's campaign, including Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to crimes and began cooperating with Mueller. As Mueller's investigation was apparently zeroing in on Trump and his family, Republicans, never enthusiastic about the investigation in the first place, began to voice skepticism, then concern. Trump supporters finally explicitly denounced the investigation as biased and out to "get Trump."
The House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Nunez, an early Trump supporter, was a sham and total farce from the beginning. His initial antics included his "midnight ride" to the White House. Under severe criticism, he recused himself from dealing with the Russian investigation - only to return and create more mischief. This brings us to the now infamous "memo" aimed at discrediting the investigation, and the FBI in general, as "anti-Trump."
The charge that the FBI is "in tatters" and biased toward Democrats is ludicrous, especially considering Comey's ill-timed announcement that sealed Clinton's defeat. What is Trump thinking - that this bunch of tough cops, led by Trump-appointed Republicans, has turned into a bunch of liberals out to "get Trump?" That's quite a stretch, even for Trump.
The infamous memo on which Fox News and Trump supporters base their charges relies on the proposition that the FISA warrant for Carter Page, suspected Russian agent, willing or not, and one-time foreign policy advisor to Trump, was based on a dossier by Christopher Steele, a former British MI-6 agent who opposed Trump's possible election. In fact, Page had been under investigation as early as 2013.
There is nothing in that memo that suggests the FBI acted wrongly. But it nevertheless has served pro-Trump purposes. The FBI opposed the release of the memo that omits relevant information while revealing information damaging to American security. But to Republicans protecting Trump, this was secondary to throwing up a smoke screen intended to cast doubt on the legitimacy of, or discredit completely, the Mueller investigation.
The longer run damage is to discredit the FBI, politicize the intelligence committees and diminish trust in those charged with exercising checks and balances. Where are the Republicans who should be standing up to Trump's dangerous excesses? Where is Paul Ryan?
When the history of this unstable era is written, Ryan's spineless failure to check President Trump's abuse of power will cost him dearly.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in the Monroe Times.
As government posts are occupied by people with human foibles, including the quest for power, no system can operate with absolute perfection. Words on paper are meaningless unless people holding responsible positions protect our institutions, including exercising checks and balances of government. This depends on trust in those holding power.
While there have been many historical incidents of misuse of governmental power, our system of checks and balances has worked reasonably well to preserve our nation through war, economic depression and numerous other crises.
But now, the system is being put to another severe test. Trust is being violated by powerful people, including by the nation's most powerful Republican outside of the executive branch of government, House Speaker Paul Ryan.
It has long been clear to anyone paying attention that President Trump has absolutely no conception of the crucial role of checks and balances. This is clearly exhibited by his public defamation of the judiciary, his declaration of the press as an "enemy of the people" and his current trashing of the FBI.
The quest for power is human, and the quest to extend presidential power did not originate with Trump. But his past experience was limited to being the final authority holding the money and power in his real estate empire. He is not accustomed to dealing with equals. His modus operandi is to destroy individuals and institutions that stand in his way. Ruthless power has served him well in business. But in government, without exercise of checks and balances, ruthless use of power leads to dictatorship.
President Trump is systematically attempting to destroy our checks and balances. This is where public trust in individuals who are charged with exercising checks and balances is being violated. Instead of stepping up to the plate, congressional Republicans, led by Paul Ryan, are enabling Trump's abuse of power.
Granted, members of Congress will be partisan. However, the congressional intelligence committees charged with providing oversight of agencies such as the FBI and the CIA are expected to put the welfare of the nation above party. House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunez has flagrantly violated this principle. With this, the buck stops with Ryan, who has the power to remove him as committee chair.
Let's review some significant points of this tangled web.
Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College because everything that could have gone wrong did. These include serious tactical and strategic blunders of the campaign, false equivalence coverage by the mainstream media, voter suppression, Democratic voter apathy and Russian meddling. The final nail in the coffin of the Clinton campaign was the untimely announcement by FBI Director James Comey regarding resumption of the Hillary Clinton investigation - without mentioning investigation of the Trump campaign.
While Comey can be criticized for that untimely announcement, it is to his credit that he continued the ongoing FBI investigation into Russian meddling of the campaign. As he correctly refused to pledge loyalty to Trump, and continued the investigation, Trump promptly fired him.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions correctly recused himself from the Russian investigation. Newly appointed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to lead the investigation regarding Russian meddling.
Through Mueller's investigation, several men involved in Trump's campaign, including Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to crimes and began cooperating with Mueller. As Mueller's investigation was apparently zeroing in on Trump and his family, Republicans, never enthusiastic about the investigation in the first place, began to voice skepticism, then concern. Trump supporters finally explicitly denounced the investigation as biased and out to "get Trump."
The House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Nunez, an early Trump supporter, was a sham and total farce from the beginning. His initial antics included his "midnight ride" to the White House. Under severe criticism, he recused himself from dealing with the Russian investigation - only to return and create more mischief. This brings us to the now infamous "memo" aimed at discrediting the investigation, and the FBI in general, as "anti-Trump."
The charge that the FBI is "in tatters" and biased toward Democrats is ludicrous, especially considering Comey's ill-timed announcement that sealed Clinton's defeat. What is Trump thinking - that this bunch of tough cops, led by Trump-appointed Republicans, has turned into a bunch of liberals out to "get Trump?" That's quite a stretch, even for Trump.
The infamous memo on which Fox News and Trump supporters base their charges relies on the proposition that the FISA warrant for Carter Page, suspected Russian agent, willing or not, and one-time foreign policy advisor to Trump, was based on a dossier by Christopher Steele, a former British MI-6 agent who opposed Trump's possible election. In fact, Page had been under investigation as early as 2013.
There is nothing in that memo that suggests the FBI acted wrongly. But it nevertheless has served pro-Trump purposes. The FBI opposed the release of the memo that omits relevant information while revealing information damaging to American security. But to Republicans protecting Trump, this was secondary to throwing up a smoke screen intended to cast doubt on the legitimacy of, or discredit completely, the Mueller investigation.
The longer run damage is to discredit the FBI, politicize the intelligence committees and diminish trust in those charged with exercising checks and balances. Where are the Republicans who should be standing up to Trump's dangerous excesses? Where is Paul Ryan?
When the history of this unstable era is written, Ryan's spineless failure to check President Trump's abuse of power will cost him dearly.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in the Monroe Times.
