opinion

Letter: Is honesty gone from our government?

Honesty has always been a rare element in politics and one is cautioned to take the rhetoric in Washington with a grain of salt, perhaps because the citizenry has not sufficiently held elected officials accountable. Today the rules for behavior have changed for the worse, where fact has been replaced with fabrication and commitment to the people’s work sacrificed in the pursuit of self-interest.

Over the past year our nation has witnessed the destructive direction taken by the Trump administration relating to healthcare, the environment, civil liberties, immigration, geopolitics, fiscal responsibility and the very institutions that serve as a bulwark in defense of our nation. President Trump's executive pronouncements are devoid of ethical grounding, and calculated to appease a radical caucus seeking the freedom to do what it pleases. The tragic irony is that the xenophobe who continues to press the big lie of the danger at our southern border may be feeling the walls closing in on him as the special prosecutor rolls up indictments of Trump associates and builds a case against the administration. Trump has yet to fully acknowledge the danger Vladimir Putin and his minions pose to our country, confirmed by testimony from leaders of our security agencies that such attacks can be expected to continue unabated into the midterm elections and beyond. And what has Congress done to answer this threat to our nation from within?

If we may be honest for just a moment, it is quite clear that Trump could not have succeeded to the degree that he has without the complicity of the Republican Party at large and its members in the House and Senate. There had been deafening silence during the months leading up to the primaries and but a few from its ranks willing to express revulsion for Trump’s vulgar behavior throughout the debates and on the campaign trail. By the time he’d captured the nomination, one could not tell whether the party leadership expected some miraculous conversion from an individual who amply proved himself beyond redemption or that they fully anticipated his defeat in November.

Neither occurred, and though the Trump administration has far exceeded our fears, the Republican Party has evidently decided to pretend it is business as usual. While most simply choose to remain silent or to spin the facts, others actively join in the destruction of our democracy and make every effort to support a man who vows allegiance to no one but himself. You needn’t look further than the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee or the Majority Leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee or even the Speaker of the House to see how readily these individuals will abandon their oath to uphold the Constitution in order to prop up a man who abides by no law if he can get away with it.

William Shakespeare said “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” If true, the Republican controlled 115th Congress will be recorded in history for its descent into moral bankruptcy and abandonment of honesty.

Richard Kushnier

Wayne