Bob Meade - Loss of trust. . .

It’s a safe assumption that most Americans have lived their life trusting our government to abide by the laws enacted to guide all the people inside and outside of government. However, in a relative flash of time that trust has gone. We have seen some government leaders “weaponize” the embedded bureaucracy for political reasons. And we have seen the embedded bureaucracy, the “deep state”, do likewise. For example:

— The IRS scandal stonewalled processing or denied applications for legitimate non-profit status to organizations that they deemed to be other than liberal left. The instigators refused to testify and “took the fifth” and were rewarded with a punishment of months of paid vacation and then allowed to retire with a full pension. The head of the department refused to cooperate with the congressional investigators and stonewalled their every request; and nothing happened to him either.

— Then there was what is called the Benghazi scandal where our ambassador was brutally murdered and some men who were willing to defy “stand down” orders and try to protect him were also killed. Nothing happened to those who repeatedly refused to provide the additional security the ambassador had repeatedly pleaded for. Nothing happened to the leadership who refused to respond to the urgent requests for help by those under attack or those who issued the “stand down” orders.

— For over a year we have seen the FBI stonewall legitimate requests for information by the congressional committees responsible for “oversight” of Executive Branch departments. As each passing day happens, we learn of incredible bias on the part of some leadership who were intent on preventing the election of (now) President Trump . . . essentially a cabal within one of our most trusted government departments.

— We have witnessed FBI leadership blatantly take unproven information, give it to a friend, and direct him to “leak” it to the news media so as to prompt a special counsel investigation of the president. This is outrageous in many ways but, in short, it sowed the seeds of the poisonous tree . . . a tree not based on truth, but on personal bias and animosity. And, it came from what had been one of the most trusted government agencies in to world.

— We have witnessed the special counsel blatantly and unnecessarily authorize the armed break-in to a former Trump campaign manager’s home in the middle of the night and confiscate whatever they wanted. Up to that point, the manager had been fully cooperating with the special counsel and had provided everything he had been asked for.

— We have seen the special counsel charge a former Trump campaign aid, a former three star general, with lying to the FBI, even though the FBI agents did not think he had purposely lied and even though he hadn’t been told he was being interviewed; he thought it was simply a chance meeting and a get-acquainted type of discussion. The retired general’s legal expense brought on by the special counsel’s investigation drove him into bankruptcy and resulted in him having to sell his home to pay his legal expenses.

— We have read of FBI agents texting each other on how they intended to prevent the (now) president from taking office. Those same people’s text messages confirmed that the previous White House was being briefed on the activities of the rogue agents.

— We know that the director of the FBI abused his powers by announcing that candidate Clinton would not be charged for a variety of violations of the law. We know too, that the FBI allowed candidate Clinton to have legal advisors with her when she underwent an interview with the FBI. And, she was not required to take an oath swearing to tell the truth and, outrageously, the FBI had agreed not to question certain areas.

— We know that on four separate occasions the FBI sought and received FISA warrants based on information they knew not to be verified, they knew had been paid for by the Clinton campaign, and was produced by a foreign agent who was known to have a great deal of animus towards Donald J. Trump . . . but in no case, did they ever divulge these truths to the FISA judges. Is that sowing seeds of the poisonous tree?

There’s much more to be written about the disparity between the treatment the FBI/Deep State has given to candidate Clinton and candidate Trump. Can you think of any President who could have been plagued with the abuses he has taken but still worked diligently and produced such a wide range of positive results?

Now, as to the FBI and the bureaucratic Deep State, please take a moment and reflect on this question: If they can do the things they have done to a duly elected president, and not be held accountable or suffer any consequences, what will prevent them from inflicting their abuse on you?

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