AG Barr to the rule of law rescue?
In a nutshell, don’t hold your breath. Leading conservative/constitutionalist radio talk show host Mark Levin had a fine interview with Mr. Barr on his “Life, Liberty and Levin” TV show last weekend. It was a pivotal discussion about how destructive, violent, anarchist, un-American, uncivil, and rogue the left has become in its efforts to fundamentally transform America. That transformation is away from an erstwhile codified citadel of liberty to an increasingly Marxist nation featuring iron-fisted tyranny (for flavor, consider the Corona virus policy responses, especially in blue states, where prolonged lockdowns have led to serious and widespread behavioral issues). This effort, of course, is being led by the party of slavery, the party of segregation, the party of re-segregation, the party of the KKK, the party of internment of Japanese Americans, the party opposed to civil rights, and the party that led to unbridled third world amnesty which fueled ever growing voter disenfranchisement, Balkanization, and stagnant US jobs (for Americans). I’m talking, of course, about the power-obsessed, “Constitution, Americans, and America-be-damned” Democratic party.
So far, so good. It’s a great thing that Barr and his Department of Justice (DOJ) are at least calling the left out. But there is a huge fly in the ointment, in my view. It isn’t just about restoring law and order in America’s crime-infested, burning cities under racist/Marxist BLM and Antifa siege with local, state-level, and national Democratic power holders either approving or enabling rank lawlessness, and RINOs generally too intimidated to speak out against it.
It is also about going after the very lawless elected officials and bureaucrats that have made a mockery of the rule of law while the same cast of characters has often set the stage for the anarchy and destruction that law-abiding urban Americans have faced, and are currently facing in unprecedented terms, from coast to coast, especially in Democratically-run cities (the vast majority of them). This prosecution of rogue of former and current public officials is precisely what isn’t happening. That is the devastating fly in the ointment.
I addressed this in an email with a friend of mine who who initially drew Barr’s interview on Mark Levin’s TV show to my attention.
Here is what I wrote my friend:
Got a chance to listen. GREAT interview. Barr nails it, as does obviously Mark. Allow me a criticism or two; you may well consider it “majoring in minors,” but I think it goes to the heart of any honest system of government, and that starts with telling the truth.
Barr mentioned that Trump’s economy until recently saw virtually zero percent unemployment, and that this will recur. This is disingenuous at best. Trump himself called the unemployment rate fake as a candidate when it was around 5% (U3, or the most flattering measure). Furthermore, Trump mentioned, as a candidate, that real world unemployment was likely north (if not well north) of 20%. Translation: take the U3 measure, turn it into the U6 measure, and then add back all the discouraged workers that have been looking for a job for more than a year and were conveniently taken out of the job seeker category back in the Slick Willy (Clinton) administration, and you a get “real world” US unemployment rate of around 30%. Today!
One more point, arguably an even much, much bigger one concerning honest government – a government run by people that are not above the law. Here we are, some 3.5 years into the Trump administration. Barr has (thankfully) been on board since February of 2019, or about 1.5 years. We have mountains of evidence of treasonous and felonious acts by the heads/the top brass of former Obama and early Trump administration politicians and bureaucrats ranging from Hillary to the former Obama AGs to the top brass of the FBI and the CIA to the judges that recklessly (or worse!) issued warrants to spy on Americans, a clear Bill of Rights violation if there ever was one. Former FBI head Comey, in the summer of 2016, not only still “toiled” as the top (bad) cop of America, but he also put on a judge’s hat and effectively told America, after reading a litany of indictable charges against Madam Clinton, that Hillary “didn’t really mean any harm,” but if the average American acted in such a manner, then the full force of the law would come down on him. Comey even wagged his finger “at us” as he issued his stern warning for us little people.
Have we seen ANYONE of at least a few handfuls of high level top brass bureaucratic and elected criminals even get indicted by the supposedly lawful, ethical DOJ that supposedly eminently capable, rule-of-law man Barr heads? Should we wait until Biden assumes the presidency to finally indict these varied disgusting, oath-shredding, Constitution-curdling crooks?? What a freakin’ pathetic banana republic with above the law power brokers running free and making millions in the MSM and by giving speeches! Yet everyday Americans get fined for not wearing masks, wanting to run their businesses only to find that they’re forced to shut down or that their power and water have been shut off (L.A.). Yet everyday Americans get treated by the IRS like quasi criminals (or worse) if they fall short in terms of filing or declarations or payments. And don’t try to defend your home in red state America; just accept the violence and destruction of often organized rioters and then call 911, but no one may answer because your police force is being defunded.
Now I know a lot of the harassment, intimidation, and Bill of Rights violations are state-based affairs (I’d argue that the 14th Amendment should offer state like Bill of Rights protections), but I’m trying to make a bigger point: Mark Levin and AG Barr and others can talk the big talk, but until our governing elites are no longer above the law (the Constitution), all this is a bunch of talk with precious little “here’s the beef” walk as far as everyday Americans are concerned — and rightly so. No wonder governmental institutions are often held in such low esteem.
Are all these mega crooks that have abused their elected or appointed positions of power going to skate? Are sorely needed indictments going to be pushed aside by all the sickening diversions the left is continuing to cook up for us from Russia Gate to Ukraine Gate to the virus policy scam to Marxists/anarchists tearing the crap out of the fabric of both our cities and society? And will this BR style “looking askance policy” be thanks to neither Trump or Barr or the man from Connecticut having enough guts to finally go after these above the law creeps? Or could it be that both sides of the aisle are so steeped in corruption and so eager to sustain their power, prestige, and crony/fascist advantages that this is just all a big, bad, throw us a bone of hope pretend game that we fall for until we realize we’ve been had again?
I, for one, won’t be holding my breath. Less talk, just walk, 3.5 years into the Trump admin, on this VITAL, no one is supposed to be above the law front. And Barr definitely knows the ropes, so why hasn’t he had the decency and guts to start the process of trying to show the country that DC ain’t above the law while he still has the chance?
Here is how my friend responded:
Of course, I agree completely that Barr is not the be all and end all, or even close, for the reasons you mention, and more. The biggest one to me, because it (not the unemployment rate) is squarely in his wheelhouse is the lack of any prosecutions of arguably the biggest political criminals in the country’s history – i.e., starting with Hillary, Comey, Brennan, McCabe and… yes, Obama, the messiah himself.
That said, he is very refreshingly honest in a relative sense. Could and should he (and countless other bureaucrats, representatives and putative “leaders”) be 500% better? Absolutely. The closest one to that ideal that I can think of is probably Ted Cruz, but I have no doubt that if he were president, on the SCOTUS and/or AG, he’d disappoint as well.
So I basically agree with your critique but as many have said, politics is the art of the possible. That is the framework within which he exists, and that inevitably skews and corrupts. Right now, he’s light years better than Sessions was, and Universes better than Holder or Lynch were. Am I 100% happy with him? No, not even close. But am I much happier with him than many/ most other currently available alternatives? Absolutely.
To which I responded:
Your first paragraph says it all, as far as I am concerned. Politics is indeed the art of the possible. Yet for a man of conscience (Barr), a man that self-identifies as a rule of law constitutionalist, a man who has had under his “wheelhouse belt” the “machinery” with which to prosecute “arguably the biggest criminals in the country’s history” for about 1.5 years yet has prosecuted no such person … — this speaks sobering volumes about his true dedication to a system in which no one is above the law, else you can’t have the rule of law.
Ruby Ridge. Enough said.
Anyone who believes that Barr (or any other Swamp Creature) is for “Rule of Law” is a Fool.
There is No ‘Law’ for those within the corrupt ‘System’, and there Never Will Be, until the Woodchippers run the with Blood and Guts of these Traitors to the Republic.
The Constitutional Militia is the answer to this problem. Look it up!
There also has been no prosecution of those who facilitate or fund BLM, Antifa or any of the other myriad revolutionary Marxist groups-- Soros or any of the others. This is glaring inaction. Facilitating terrorism and insurrection is against the law-- and yet it is being ignored apparently.