People are entitled to have their own political beliefs, provided those beliefs do not rise to the level of hate and as long as people don’t circumvent the system in order to promote their beliefs.
That’s why the FBI is so politically corrupt these days. There are corrupt people at high levels of the FBI, not necessarily within the rank and file though. What happens at the top trickles down through the rest of the organization, and few people stand up and say something is wrong with their supervisors, even if they know it’s wrong, especially if they have a certain political bent. They don’t want to be demoted or fired. The FBI is a chain-of-command organization; a person does what their boss tells them to do. The military is the same way, of course. Imagine if we let generals and other military officers lead the troops based on their own political beliefs. That would be a disaster for the military and our country.
Within the U.S. State Department, I do believe that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is trying to clean things up. The department still has some serious vertical corruption inside, which works against what our country needs.
We need to allow political beliefs in this country, provided they do not rise to the level of hate. Unfortunately, there are many people in this country that hate others just because of their political beliefs; this is ridiculous.
There are many, many people in this country – from the far left to the far right – and, of course, it’s important to listen to them. It’s when we allow their political beliefs to reach the level of hate that big problems arise.
When a person reaches a level of hate, it’s more likely that they are going to try and circumvent the rules and the law. And as for the rest of us, it’s not necessarily what we do; sometimes it’s what we don’t do – which is to always stand up for what is right.
Leakers and whistleblowers in the FBI and within other organizations – people who are actually doing something – are how we discover what is going wrong and how we can put an end to corruption in our government. This is how we can get the FBI back to the way it was when I grew up. I come from a law-and-order family. It is against all rules of order to break a law for a superior.
But again, it’s fine to have political beliefs, no matter what they are. But don’t ever let them rise to the level of hate or to circumvention of the system, especially when working for the government. Or the police or private companies like Google or Facebook for that matter.
We as citizens must help our government and our law enforcement officials figure out how to get rid of the hateful elements in their organizations. And leadership should always be afraid of the rank and file, who want to do the right thing.
There’s no doubt that people knew what was going on in the upper levels of the FBI and in the Justice Department. The last two attorneys general were definitely politically corrupt, and the jury is still out as to whether or not an attorney general can clean up his own department. There are a lot of people in the department influencing decisions and allowing corruption to continue. And the longer these people remain silent, the more they’re going to look corrupt. Let’s face it: Optics are huge in America. If a person comes out too late with the facts, that’s exactly what it will be – too late.
I believe that if somebody has done something wrong and could be indicted on several felonies, we should not wait until we can prove each and every indictment; just have a grand jury indict them for whatever can be proven at the time.
Far too often, somebody who is running for office says that he or she will not prosecute somebody for something. Then, additional facts are discovered, and more and more evidence is revealed. At that point, there should be no way for an official to stick to what they said when they were just a candidate. They should be able to say that things are different now, that nobody is above the law – and prosecute. Even if you’re going to plea bargain a lot, at least you’re dong something.
It would really make us a more effective country if our elected officials could do the right thing more often. Unfortunately, however, in the United States, high-powered people rarely go to jail.
Personally, I don’t want to vote for anybody – senator, congressperson, president – who won’t change their mind when new evidence is revealed, even if that means the official goes directly against what they said previously.
When new facts are discovered about a situation, officials have to deal with them forthrightly and do the right thing: Make people accountable.
The American people are not OK with business as usual, which usually means that somebody isn’t prosecuted – or even brought up on charges – because they’re famous or they’re in political office or part of the justice system.
The cover up is usually as bad if not worse than the crime itself. Agencies don’t do the right thing because it will make them look bad. They look worse when they don’t do anything.
Put all of it before a grand jury and let them indict those who should be. Then let the justice department make deals of time served. No trials. Just plea bargain them out. We need to get this corruption behind us.
Not enforcing the law is a cop-out. What do you think?
