The Truth Is Knocking. Let It In

You might as well answer the door, my child, the truth is furiously knocking.

- Lucille Clifton

What does holding power to account mean?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, to make someone accept that they are responsible for something and explain their actions or decisions: Holding those in power to account is the essence of democracy.

Power and Corruption

Here are two examples of abuse of power and the result of two recent investigations that hold power to account. Both are from an article in Slate, 

The Matt Gaetz Report Is a Reminder That Investigations Actually Matter

By Dahlia Lithwick

When the long-awaited House Ethics committee report on Matt Gaetz came out Monday morning, it offered a stark reminder of how vital it is to continue to carry out thorough investigations, especially as investigators are being increasingly vilified. Today we know much that we did not previously know about Gaetz’s fitness to hold public office. That is to the benefit of absolutely everyone. And anyone who thinks differently should have to explain why we should have remained in the dark.

Matt Gaetz

The committee’s findings were horrific. The 42-page document, which Gaetz tried unsuccessfully to suppress, found the former congressman had “violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.” (Gaetz has denied all of the allegations). Their investigation found that Donald Trump’s first pick for the chief law enforcement officer of the United States had, among other things, purchased drugs including cocaine and ecstasy on multiple occasions; accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging in the Bahamas, in excess of permissible amounts; paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex; lied to the State Department about the identity of one of these women so that she could get an American passport; and paid a 17-year-old girl—a high school junior. 

Justice Clarence Thomas

All of this brought to mind another recent investigation: the brand new 93-page report released by Democratic staff members of the Judiciary Committee, detailing yet more ethics violations committed by Justice Clarence Thomas. Amid the new revelations were two additional trips paid for by Thomas’ billionaire patron Harlan Crow that had not been disclosed, even as Thomas has scrambled to amend his various filings to keep up with journalism. The new trips came to light only because the committee had subpoenaed Crow.

Is It A Moot Point?

No charges have been brought, Republicans deny accountability, and attack the investigators, but the word is now out, and that matters. It matters because the truth is a way forward. Acquiescence to power ends our democracy. 

We now have the emergence of the very powerful Tech Brotherhood within the MAGA alliance. They are pro tech, pro capitalism, anti-regulation, and pro H-1B visa. They are causing a split in MAGA world over their stand on allowing certain people of color into our country. I am not comfortable with the new tech oligarchy ruling America. Will they feed the hungry? Will they house the homeless, including 155,000 children sleeping in the streets tonight? Will they make sure our health care system is affordable, and includes empathy and compassion unlike the algorithms that deny coverage to millions? I'm not optimistic. They are condescending to the MAGA base and to the rest of us. 

Push back is essential from the free press and from everyday citizens. Hold our elected representatives to account, or in a very short while we will hardly recognize our country. 

I Am Only One Person

First, you are not alone. You've heard, "Where two or three gather...?" That's the beginning of something much larger. Small groups grew into the civil rights movement.

We have power over our elected officials. Even in gerrymandered districts, it is possible to affect change. Representatives are chosen by the public to decide on its behalf the policies and actions to be pursued by a Government and are charged with acting in the best interests of his and her constituents. In doing so representatives are accountable to their constituents for their actions. 

-gao

Racism Is a Festering Abscess

Picture credit, Rod Long

 Is racism over?

If we don't teach the lessons of the past, will they just go away. 

Two quotes that tell us that the fight against hate is hardly over...

The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.

Toni Morrison

As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

The MAGAs have been picking at this wound since before they became associated with the name MAGA and Donald Trump. It is now open and festering. The healing begins in each of us. We need to learn how to love one another no matter their skin color, their faith, their sexual orientation, their age, or their disability. Are we capable of this? Can we set aside our prejudices? Will we be allowed to learn from our past? 

I think we can. It starts with awareness. Dare I say, woke? Then we must teach our children well.