More than two years ago, several independent
researchers, investigative journalists and columnists (including yours truly)
began providing evidence and reporting on apparent funds from Russian
government-controlled entities funneling into U.S. environmental groups. The
Russian intent was to help the political action activities of the environmental
lobby to stop, or at least delay, oil and gas development in the United States.
The Russian government
is highly dependent on the revenues coming from oil and gas exports, and it is
clearly in its national interest to do what it can to keep the price of oil
high. Many in the press and the administration are allies of the environmental
groups that were recipients of the Russia money, so the potential for
substantial and extensive violations of U.S. laws were ignored by many news
outlets and the Justice Department.
Suddenly, with the
revelations that Russians and other foreign interests are hacking into
political party emails, and perhaps voting machine systems, there has been a
newfound concern that foreign interests maybe doing illegal things to alter
election and policy outcomes. The fact is that the “hacks” are nothing more
than another way for foreign interests to affect U.S. political processes —
like the contributions to the environmental groups.
There is evidence that
the monies the Russians spent on the U.S. and other environmental groups did
indeed slow oil and gas development, thus keeping petroleum products prices
higher than they would have been otherwise. The result — American consumers
were raked over to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, thus reducing real
living standards — all because a politicized Department of Justice failed to do
its job.
From the time of the
American founding, the idea of the rule of law — as contrasted with arbitrary
decisions by government officials and unequal justice — was acclaimed as a
basic principle, even though America, in practice, fell short. Slavery, though
legal in parts of the United States, violated the rule of law in its failure to
treat all equally. Subsequently, by denying rights to some, “Jim Crow” laws and
other forms of racial and religious discrimination violated the concept of
equal justice. Despite past sins, America has almost totally eliminated legal,
racial, ethnic and religious discrimination, but at the same time there has
been a rise in unequal treatment based on one’s political beliefs or personal
loyalties.
Only those oblivious to
the obvious have failed to see that the Department of Justice has become
increasingly politicized. Examples abound: The failure of former Attorney
General Eric Holder to turn over documents to Congress related to Operation
Fast and Furious as he was legally required to do; the failure to bring legal
action against Lois Lerner and other Internal Revenue Service officials for
clear violations of the administration of the tax law; the failure to hold IRS
Commissioner John Koskinen accountable for lying to Congress about records the
IRS had but failed to provide, and again for clear violations of the rules
regarding the administration of the tax laws; the failure of the FBI to
investigate (to date) Hillary Clinton’s lying to Congress, under oath, about
the number of emails she had provided — despite the evidence of her taped
testimony and the FBI’s own findings; and, the failure of the Justice Department
to bring action against Mrs. Clinton for destruction of evidence — both emails
and devices — after the legal demand of Congress to preserve such records. The
above is just a small sample of the Justice Department’s failure to uphold the
rule of law and equal justice.
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