Bob Meade - Freedom at risk . . .

A while back I wrote a little about British MP Daniel Hannan’s book, “The New Road to Serfdom”. In the book, he cited how the European Union was basically being run by non-elected bureaucrats who have the power to dictate rules and regulations to the nations that are part of the union. I use that book as the “canary in the cage” for where we too, may be headed; the non-elected dictating our future.

In my last column, I cited a number of events that took place within our government, many by members of the different bureaucratic departments, aka the “deep state,” the non-elected. Now we are at the beginning stages of seeking the information needed to determine the extent of the violations that have occurred. What immediately stands out is that the alleged law breakers are first in line to seek immunity so they won’t be prosecuted if they tell the truth or, conversely, plead the Fifth Amendment so they won’t have to tell the truth. Sadly, many of these are the people who have responsibility for finding and prosecuting law-breakers . . . they just think it’s okay to exclude themselves.

Recently, number of news sources have reported that a lawsuit has been filed with the Federal Elections Commission alleging that, in a ploy to side-step political campaign donation restrictions, the Democrat National Committee laundered in excess of $84 million in campaign funds. The suit charges that the donors were asked to submit maximum allowed donations to various state Democrat parties and then had those state parties pass them directly on to the DNC. Had an individual donor’s total contribution been submitted directly to the DNC, it would have been illegal.

As these things occur, I am reminded of the words spoken by MIT professor Jonathan Gruber concerning Obamacare . . . basically that they relied on the people being too stupid to understand the law because, if they did, the law never would have been passed. And please, just don’t dismiss those words but consider how many politicians and many of the non-elected bureaucrats have been guided by them; integrity has been replaced by ruse.

Presently, as this is being written, the two senior officials in the FBI are being questioned by elected members of the House of Representatives who have constitutional oversight responsibility. Much of the questioning by the Republicans has to do with the frustration they have with the fact that information they have been requesting for over a year has not been provided. And, much of the information that has been provided has been severely redacted (edited out). While there may be some information that legally should not be released, it seems highly unlikely that what has been denied or stonewalled for over a year should be almost everything that has been asked for. Please use this as another example of the bureaucracy-deep state-the non-elected making or defining the rules in defiance of the people or the peoples’ representatives and their responsibilities.

And, we must take a few moments and reflect on the use of a “Special Counsel.” It seems odd that a non-elected official can appoint a non-elected Special Counsel to investigate possible “collusion,” when collusion in itself is not a crime. While that counsel has virtually unlimited resources to probe in an undefined range of areas involving any number of citizens, there does not appear to be any defined set of laws that the counsel must follow as he and his team go in search of the non-defined crime. President Trump and his campaign aside, to me it seems contrary to everything we stand for to send an unfettered team of people, armed with virtually unlimited resources, in search a crime that may or may not have been committed by not only one individual, but by anyone associated that individual . . . at any time in their past history. How many citizens and their friends could withstand such an investigation into their life?

Unfortunately, many may think this is a Democrat vs. Republican issue; it is not. While much of the current/recent activity has been directed at the president, the issue is what is growing un-fettered power by the non-elected, bureaucratic, deep state. If what we have been experiencing is allowed to go unpunished, or if aggressive steps aren’t taken to put in place and enforce monitoring and control over the non-elected, and to push for some sensible rules for things like appointment and definition of special counsels’ limitations, we too, can be subject to un-fettered actions against our basic freedoms. It isn’t just about the president . . . it can be about you, too.

(Bob Meade is a Laconia resident. He may be reached at bobmeade13@gmail.com)