Why is the Republican Party leadership not up in arms about the way Blackwater was managed under the Bush Administration? Forget Benghazi. The White House not only enabled the private firm to behave badly, it deliberately undermined the functioning of legitimate government operations -- like a State Department investigation -- in order to give the group free rein.
Here's the answer: Republicans believe that when government acts, it is wrong, but when private companies act, all is good. (This is not unrelated to the Hobby Lobby decision today -- more on that after I have read the full decision.) Republicans want to contract out functions that ought to be kept within the powers of the government, and that includes military action.
My complaint with that position is that it undermines the accountability that is fundamental to the rule of law. It's dangerous.
Showing posts with label Benghazi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benghazi. Show all posts
Monday, June 30, 2014
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
The GOP and X-gate
Ever since Watergate, Republicans have been keen to demonstrate that they are not the only ones guilty of official malfeasance. Although they were unmoved by the obviously illegal behavior of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush as they traded arms for hostages with a country identified as a state sponsor of terrorism, and as they deliberately violated a law passes by Congress to prevent interactions with a corrupt and violent insurgent group, they have since scrounged up all kinds of scandal.
Thus, the bizarre behavior of Kenneth Starr, the investigator in search of a crime; birther fanatics insisting that Barack Obama is not American; the weirdly hysterical outcry about the Benghazi attacks; and now the "investigation" of the IRS for targeting conservative groups.
The problem with all of these protests is that the behavior they decry is hardly in line with the wildly unconstitutional acts of the Republican versions. Bill Clinton was a lech, but he did not abuse his office in a serious way. Obama has a birth certificate, and his only "crime" seems to be that he is black and Harvard-educated. If the State Department did want to portray the Benghazi attacks as protests, and succeeded in doing so for two days, so what? And the "targeting" of the Tea Party by the IRS has more to do with campaign organizations masquerading as tax-exempt non-profits (and therefore robbing the government) as it does with official malfeasance.
It's just another indication of the fact that the Republican Party has become unhinged, to the detriment of us all. We need at least two sane parties, the GOP is not holding up its end.
Thus, the bizarre behavior of Kenneth Starr, the investigator in search of a crime; birther fanatics insisting that Barack Obama is not American; the weirdly hysterical outcry about the Benghazi attacks; and now the "investigation" of the IRS for targeting conservative groups.
The problem with all of these protests is that the behavior they decry is hardly in line with the wildly unconstitutional acts of the Republican versions. Bill Clinton was a lech, but he did not abuse his office in a serious way. Obama has a birth certificate, and his only "crime" seems to be that he is black and Harvard-educated. If the State Department did want to portray the Benghazi attacks as protests, and succeeded in doing so for two days, so what? And the "targeting" of the Tea Party by the IRS has more to do with campaign organizations masquerading as tax-exempt non-profits (and therefore robbing the government) as it does with official malfeasance.
It's just another indication of the fact that the Republican Party has become unhinged, to the detriment of us all. We need at least two sane parties, the GOP is not holding up its end.
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