Whatever the ultimate impact of the Mueller Report, some things are irrefutable. The investigation into Russian collusion began in a welter of corruption and blind ambition and ended in confusions and unquelled vanity. That Donald Trump was not indicted for treason fully satisfied no one. The Democrats still want his scalp, whereas the Republicans want those of the folks who attacked him.
Democracy is supposed to resolve our differences. Competing interests are to cancel each other out such that compromises provide each side with a modicum of relief. We are further expected to be mollified by this outcome—at least to the degree that we don’t destroy the system.
The problem with this hope is that politicians get carried away with their aspirations. If they can lead a tidal wave of demands into swamping our system of government, they won’t object as long as this places them at the apex of a new configuration. Lies and failures won’t matter, if they maintain control.
Consider the case of Adam Schiff. From the beginning, he has been beating the drum for finding Trump guilty of collusion and obstruction of justice. As the minority leader of the House committee investigating these charges, he never expressed any doubts.
Despite presenting himself as protector of our sacred institutions, he did the opposite in the hopes of raising his political stock. Mere days into considering the evidence regarding Trump, he went before the TV cameras to declare that the proof was in. He had the facts and they were conclusive.
This charade continued, week after week and month after month. Much in the manner of senator Joe McCarthy, he would wave a sheath of papers to make it appear that he had the goods. Only he never shared these with anyone; not the public and apparently not other members of his committee.
Behavior of this sort has a name. It is called demagoguery. By inflaming public opinion, the goal is to acquire a following so large and so passionate that it cannot be resisted. Justice be damned if it can be made to appear that one is a champion of justice.
Immediately after the Mueller Report came out, even before anyone read it, Schiff proclaimed that it was not the last word. The fact that Trump had not been indicted demonstrated that there was more information to be unearthed. That Mueller’s investigation had been the most comprehensive to date troubled him not a whit.
So what I want to know is this: where was the outrage? Why weren’t more Americans calling for Schiff’s head on a plate? Back in the 1950’s, American’s on the left and the right condemned Joe McCarthy as a disgrace. Using imaginary facts to destroy the careers of innocent men and women was considered horrendous.
In the end, McCarthy was stripped of his congressional power base. But more than that, he became an archetype of what might happen to a person who violated standards of justice. Others were thereby discouraged from following in his footsteps.
So what about Schiff? Where are the voices vilifying his anti-democratic conduct? And make no mistake; his behavior is profoundly anti-democratic. One of the basic tenets of democracy is that people are presumed innocent until they are found guilty. With Schiff, it is the other way around.
Once the Mueller Report indicated that there would be no further indictments, Schiff’s response was; we’ll find something. We’ll manufacture the facts if we have to. In other words; we have the man, we’ll find the crime.
Unfortunately, when citizens in a democracy don’t defend each other from legislative overreach, everyone becomes vulnerable. When an elective official decides that he will destroy someone, irrespective of evidence, the safeguards built into our constitution become inoperative. They are reduced to mere words.
This is not a Republican problem; it is not a Democratic problem. It is a problem for all of us. For the moment, there is a Republican president, yet it will not be long before there is a Democratic one. If we stand back and allow the current one to be unjustly maligned, the tables will soon be turned.
Partisanship has its limits. Schiff overstepped these. It is thus time to enforce the rules that make democracy possible. Only the people as a whole can achieve this. Absent this, the politicians will run riot. They will do whatever keeps them in power. And it won’t be us!
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Kennesaw State University
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