This week Time Magazine had Robert Mueller on its cover, the special prosecutor appointed by the deputy Attorney General of the United States. The word is that President Trump is exploring ways to either remove or neutralize Mueller. Removal would almost certainly send the country into a constitutional crisis, but Trump has reason to be concerned. A special prosecutor has tremendous discretionary authority. Does anyone remember Ken Starr? Starr was appointed as special prosecutor to investigate the Whitewater investment debacle to determine whether President Clinton had abused his authority for financial gain when he was Governor of Arkansas. Starr’s investigation lasted years and after interviewing hundreds of witnesses, spending millions of dollars to review every conceivable phone record, meeting log, financial record, and receipt, Starr’s final report had nothing related to Whitewater and instead focused almost entirely on the Monica Lewinsky affair. We do not know much about Mueller’s investigation yet, but special prosecutors are definitely something that justify fear.
Inflation has impacted all of us. The price of almost everything has spiked faster and harder than at any time since the 80s. Few things can obliterate a modern economy more than out-of-control inflation.
For most people, there is little upside to writing about the January 6th hearings, but as you probably know by now, I don’t worry about those things. We all must stand for something. The hearings have almost everyone taking sides before a single witness is called. Democrats believe that the events of January 6th were a calculated effort to undermine our democracy by demolishing two of the most sacred tenants of our nation, free elections, and the peaceful transition of power.
Most people consider themselves either a conservative or a liberal. I think if we forget political parties, which flip their positions on things all of the time, and instead focus on the actual definition of what it means to be a conservative and what it means to be a liberal, we might be able to temper the emotional reactions some of us have with political discourse.