Guest Post by The Zman
My guess is more than a few readers have nursed some rather detailed revenge fantasies about what they would like to see after the revolution. Given the current crisis, it is understandable. Revenge is a big part of every revolution. While bringing back the hangman has its attractions, that’s not the sort of revolution we are likely to see. Instead, ours will be a political revolution. If the forces of darkness prevail in November, we head into the post-national, post-democratic future our rulers promise. If the forces of light prevail, then we may head into a period of raucous reform.
Let’s assume the good guys win for a change and Trump wins the November election. One thing that will happen quickly is there will be calls for him to pardon Hillary Clinton. It is well known that there is an open investigation into the Clinton foundation. It is on the slow track due to the election. If it goes active after the election, it will mean the e-mail crimes will be reopened. Official Washington will want Trump to pardon her and/or quash the FBI investigation into Clinton. We’ll hear a lot of stuff about closing the books for the good of the country.
That was the argument behind pardoning Nixon. Gerald Ford was pressured into taking one for the team in order to preserve “the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks could be irreparably lost by the prospects of bringing to trial a former President of the United States.” Whether or not Ford truly believed this is hard to know, because there was never a full airing of what happened to bring down Nixon. It was a Silent Coup that has cast a shadow over our politics for forty years.
Trump should not pardon Clinton. Instead he should appoint a special prosecutor with the authority to go where the evidence takes him. The Clinton crime family did not operate in a vacuum. Lots of people have greased the wheels so that these two grifters from the Ozarks could hold official Washington captive for close to a quarter century. Getting all of it out into the open would do a lot of damage to the political class, but it would do a world of good for the nation’s politics. The corrupt bargain that has prevailed in DC needs to come to an end.
The point is not to put Hillary Clinton in prison, even though that would be a happy outcome. The Clintons have come to symbolize everything that has gone wrong in Washington over the last several decades. They are an extreme example of the ethos that has come to dominate American politics. It is a culture where everything is for sale, nothing is ever on the level and no scam is too small. Washington has become something like a rotten police precinct, where morality is inverted. Instead of the criminals fearing detection by the honest, it is the honest who fear the criminals.
Along the same lines, the IRS investigation has to be reopened so that the truth of that fiasco is laid bare. Nixon was run out of town, in part, because his people talked about using the IRS as a weapon. Whether or not the Obama people were involved in the IRS targeting scandal is unknown, but it needs to be known. There are certain things that must remain beyond the pale in order to maintain civilized government. It is why the West eventually got rid of blood feuds. Politicizing the IRS is one of those things that can never be permitted.
In all probability, the people in the IRS acted on their own initiative. Lois Lerner is a fanatic. That much is obvious. Putting her in a cage for a very long time sends the message to other fanatics that the IRS is no place for their kind. It also sends the message to the politicians who appoint these people. That was supposed to be the lesson of Watergate. It was not enough to obey the letter of the law. Politicians were supposed to obey the spirit of the law. Prosecuting the people responsible for the IRS scandal reestablishes that principle.
Whether any of this will happen is open to debate. The nation is at a crossroads, similar to where we were when Andrew Jackson came to Washington. There are also similarities between this period and the end of the Industrial Revolution a century ago. Then as now, new fortunes accelerated the corruption of the political class to the point where the public had lost confidence in their rulers. In order to avoid something much worse than a period of raucous reform, we need a period of raucous reform. If a Trump presidency merely clears the field for a new generation of reformers, that would be a pleasant result.
Cause otherwise what comes net will be much worse.
The best way to clean-up a mess is to start from the top, and work your way down. At the moment, the top in our country is almost pure filth. I’d prefer a peaceful clean-up be started via the system the Founders gave us instead of something much more unpleasant. Coming out of a Fourth Turning with the stage set for sensible reform would be a happy outcome.
It is not just the politicians and their agency heads, it is also the Banksters and anyone that peddles influence in DC.
Until punishment occurs, it sends a positive message to all the scum.
Forget all that ‘fancy’ trial stuff – bring back the gibbet!
From Wiki: Gibbeting refers to the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of executed criminals were hanged on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. In earlier times up to the late 17th century, live gibbeting also took place in which the condemned was placed alive in a metal cage and left to die of thirst. The term gibbet may also be used to refer to the practice of placing a criminal on display within a gibbet.[1] This practice is also called “hanging in chains”
For a good read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbeting
Among other things, I would suggest that there is a big difference between pardoning a former President for things that he may have done while in office and pardoning a losing Presidential candidate who was under both suspicion and investigation before becoming a Presidential candidate.
One can be seen as a legitimate political move to avoid needless strife, division and possible violence in the country, not to mention a great inhibition of what may be necessary actions of the office itself for any President, the other a simple dismissal of criminal activity which encourages more of the same in the future.
Not that I’m of any social or economic status in life that would make my opinion of any value to those with any degree of political influence.
the rhino’s have a part for confirming the dept heads. now they are passing on the budget for the lame ducks, after vacationing for a month they come back just long enough for pictures. a system designed for corruption.
FWIW, there is an old saying -from South America I think but maybe elsewhere- that “He who plays at revolution plows the sea”.
Something to give serious consideration to before embarking on that path if simple revenge is your goal.
As for me, I just want to see things corrected in the direction our country is taking and don’t care much about what has already happened if that can be done.
OTOH, “Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius” may have a degree of merit to it.
Translation: “Kill them all, let God sort them out.”
or more precise “Kill them. For the Lord knows those that are His own.”
An oft used phrase in Viet Nam.
The pressure won’t be on Trump to pardon Clinton, it will be on Obongo. And he won’t do it.
star…You don’t think Oblahblah will pardon the sleazebag?
Dream On. Just look at the 50 or so dead people by some accident or self infliction. Add that to the Clinton Foundation graft and corruption, add that ti the witch lying and selling of favors, add that to the ex president known for is lack of morals ( just ask the women he has raped), etc. etc. etc. Then show me one incitement, one successful lawsuit, one anything that was successful in stopping or costing the Clintons anything. They are like cancer in every part of the human body. You can kill the stomach cancer but not the others, or the brain cancer but not the others, etc. etc. Maybe someday we will be able to sing Ding Dong the witch is dead along with the male bitch, because no one lives forever. But as for now and the foeable
Could not edit. Last words But for now and for the future all anyone will accomplish is to piss in the wind in their attempts to bring them down.
From the article: “these two grifters from the Ozarks ”
This may be a minor point, but please do not insult the Ozarks by linking them so closely with the Clintons. Bill was born in the far south of Arkansas. The Ozarks (in northern Arkansas, southern Missouri and a bit of eastern Oklahoma) are very distinct geographically, and more importantly culturally, from the rest of the state. The Ozarks tends to be more old fashioned and politically conservative.
I’m with you, Jason. Here in the Missouri Ozarks, we are particularly deplorable.
“Whether or not the Obama people were involved in the IRS targeting scandal is unknown, but it needs to be known.”
Known versus Proven, and then what?
Poison is Queen (I, Claudius).
Like it or not there needs to be public humiliation for most of the Washington insiders , the shenanigans that have gone on using their connections to enrich themselves and associates is disgusting to say the least and a few weeks in a stock left to sit in their own excriment and when released they receive a shower (cold) a fresh jump suit which they will wear for life as part of their parole they can pick up litter at minimum wage till the check out ! After all that’s the plan they have now for us
Good idea ,Dutch. A gillotine would be nice.
The polarization is bad more than I have seen in my lifetime. I think this 4 th Turning crisis is going to be real bad. There is a lot of revenge in the air on both sides.
First off, there should be a plan in place before any revolution. Second, pardon Hitlary for what. You want to “do a world of good for the nation’s politics? Execute her……..publicly for treason against the USA……..after she’s convicted of course.
After posting a comment to the GOVERNING THE DEPLORABLES article I read YOU WILL BE POOR and thought all the way through that my previous comment was applicable to that thread as well. I also posted another comment to the YOU WILL BE POOR thread that seems perfectly applicable here:
“I don’t see violent revolution as the only option. With violent revolution we all lose our jobs, our comparatively safe and peaceful way of life in addition to many other negative things in the process. If you’re willing to go the violent revolution route why not try a peaceful one first?
I just saw an article that said the government has collected $20,000,000,000,000 (20 trillion) in taxes during the 91 full months that Obama has been in office in addition to running up the national debt by an additional $8,878,290,996,028. They have spent, lost, misappropriated or stolen ALL of this money. Modestly rounded, that’s 29,000,000,000,000 (TRILLION) dollars over 7.6 years.
All we need to do is develop a list of demands with an attached timeline and then petition the govt for redress of grievances. If that fails and you have a job, STOP GOING TO WORK. PERIOD! That includes, doctors, pilots, police, fire and every poor slob that keeps all the wheels, levers and machines humming. In effect, the PEOPLE should declare martial law on the government and all out war on the evil foreign interests that prop it up. This shit show would grind to a halt in weeks. Refuse to return to work until SUBSTANTIAL and CLEAR PROGRESS has been made on the list of demands. Sure, you’ll probably lose your job and things would damn sure get tougher but not near as tough as a violent revolution which you could still undertake if need be.
Whether we choose peaceful revolution of violent revolution, the most important part is to have a plan. Without a plan it will be suicide for us and success for them. The kind of change we are seeking is going to necessarily lead to enormous collateral damage. Peaceful or violent, it will mean an end to all welfare, entitlements, govt pensions FOR EVER. Everything will become scarce when the JIT delivery systems fail. Medical care, clean water, sanitation will be dramatically reduced or in many cases nonexistent. A well thought out plan may moderate the pain but every single life in this country will change forever overnight.
I’ve got a million ideas for a carrying out a peaceful transition back to our Constitutional form of govt but it would take days to write about. The fucksticks in charge live in mortal fear that we might wake up before they turn this planet into one big gulag. We still have the power and the moral high ground. We just have to take that step. Let’s make their fears a reality….but let us have a plan first.”
Could be that “little chip” in all our atm cards now is the link. When the $$$ turn to digits watch what happens. I don’t think it is very far off now.