Some ruminations while reviewing The Federalist and thinking about the abuse of power by our government as it pertains to the Benghazi, AP/Fox and IRS scandals. 

In my view, what is occurring with Obama is Nixonian, which took over two years to play out.  The time and speed of news today is different for sure, but the arrogance of political officials is eternal. 

The parsing of words, stonewalling of information, incongruent and nonsensical explanations, and slow and weekly drip of new or contradictory news is the same, as is the call for special prosecutors, as is senior WH officials under oath to Congress dramatically invoking their 5^th Amendment right to not testify so she would not incriminate herself also seems familiar.   An Attorney General and other senior officials repetitively stating “I don’t know”, “I don’t remember”, “I don’t recall”, “I was not aware”, etc.  It’s the “plausible deniability” playbook for people lying outright, or by omission.   

And to think, these are the best and brightest our President has to offer, and they know nothing and recall nothing while under oath (I always think of Sergeant Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes).   An oath must be like kryptonite, the truth is drained from those testifying.  Must be the presence of the bible. 

For sure, today’s arrogance and air of defiance is the same, or more so.  By our President, by the people and administration that works for him, and by our government in general.  Unlike Nixon, Obama has a sympathetic and compliant media as an ally (a significant game changer).  Like Nixon, technology might be his downfall.  I’m waiting for Obama to fire his AG, and Deputy AG to make circumstances eerily similar. 

Imagine, our Attorney General, Eric Holder, and best friend with the President, signs off on the wiretaps of the AP/Fox communications/reporters.  In testimony to Congress he declares that he recused himself sometime last year from a national security leak probe.  When asked when, he didn’t know for sure.  When asked for evidence of such an action, he was not sure he had written it down.  Now, at the request of the President, Mr. Holder will investigate Mr. Holder and report to the President on how Mr. Holder did.  Nice. 

You can also bet there are a good many liberals that silently think to themselves: good for them, those bastards that believe in a smaller, constitutional limited government, the rule of law, and a fiscally responsible government that encourages and enhances free and open markets deserve to be punished.  They are stopping us from progressing, they just don’t get it, besides they are mean and racists; they don’t care about other people like me.  So if it has to happen to someone, might as well be them.  

James Madison instructed in Federalist #51 that our government is a reflection of ourselves, so they are us.  We can continue in the direction we are headed, or act to change the trajectory.  Some choose to act, to change the reflection.  Some are summer soldiers and choose not, they prefer to jump on a bandwagon rather than create one. 

 When considering divisions of government power, checks and balances, and today’s abuse of powers by our government, the father of our Constitution informs:

 “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.  The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government,

 But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?  If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

 In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”  — James Madison, Federalist # 51

Alexander Hamilton tells us in Federalist #83 that willful abuse of power by public authority to oppress a citizen are offenses against “We the People”, the government.  Such an offense committed warrants indictment and punishment.

 “Willful abuses of a public authority, to the oppression of the subject, and every species of official extortion, are offenses against the government, for which the persons who commit them may be indicted and punished according to the circumstances of the case. — Alexander Hamilton, Federalist # 83

We have plenty of serious “abuses of public authority” occurring today.  Punishments not so much.   Indictments, not yet, but maybe.