Law professor Marjorie Cohn wrote that Republicans — have made a mockery of the impeachment process — But isn't nearly everything officially American a mockery?

27 January 2020

Better to examine the soil in our own sheepy pants?

Law professor Marjorie Cohn wrote that:

In a scene straight out of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the GOP-controlled Senate has refused to allow timely testimony from witnesses who had front row seats to Donald Trump’s abuse of power.

The senators voted 53-47, strictly along party lines, to table any possible discussion of whether to allow witnesses and documentary evidence until six days of legal arguments and two days of senator questioning had occurred.

That means the parties will argue the case and senators will ask questions before they ever get to see documents or hear from prospective witnesses.

Day 1 of the trial is a harbinger that all Republican senators will ultimately serve as loyal foot soldiers to the president, seriously imperiling the constitutional separation of powers.

To borrow Frank Rich’s striking characterization, they are “Vichy Republicans,” referring to the French government that did Hitler’s bidding during the Nazi occupation of France.

We probably can all agree that this is procedurally backwards.

Both as a matter of law and common sense.

But . . .

The way in which Democrats brought the impeachment:

on basically technical grounds that would nab virtually any American president

and also by

omitting every impeachment charge that President Trump might more legitimately (and societally usefully) be accused of —

renders the whole Impeachment Affair a farce.

I do not see how Republicans are any more blameworthy than Democrats.

Recall that Democratic Party has been out to sabotage the President with lies at every turn. Even before he was elected.

One can hypothesize that

Virtually everything governmentally American is intentionally a charade:

Take our Military Industrial Complex's (corporate enrichment) justifications for waging perpetual war.

Consider the cosponsoring American military's historically deserved reputation for lying about any and everything — simply so as to keep its money and prestige flowing.

And evaluate the Establishment's two captured political parties' wallet-stealing habits.

Last, account for the US judiciary's sanctimonious approval of these impoverishing policies, every time those are tested in court.

In short

When Government and Party lips are moving, they're lying.

Either in substance or philosophical application.

And virtually always, so as to enrich comparatively small groups of plutocrats at the Rabble's expense.

It's profit-seeking propaganda, close to one hundred percent of the time.

One laughable illustration of this is especially apt

This example comes from New York State.

Its poetry serves as metaphor for our Pillaging Culture's nature:

In their efforts to squeeze every dime they can from the tax farm, bureaucrats in New York have devised a scheme to extort citizens who wish to use public parks to gaze upon the night sky.

This extortion comes in the form of a $35.00 “Stargazing Permit.” If you are from out of state and wish to gaze upon the night sky from one of these locations that fee jumps to $60.

If you think that you will do anything else besides look at the night sky with this permit, think again. Within the regulations, bureaucrats explicitly point out that the “Permit allows after sunset parking for stargazing only, valid January 1 – December 31.”

We have to pay — even to wistfully look at distantly available freedom.

Similar schemes

Recall the decades-long push to profitably privatize "public" lands.

You know, granting preferred "capitalists" the right to (more or less permanently) camp on public land and extort fees out of the public for treading foot there.

Or alternatively, just giving Lobbying Looters the right to steal public resources.

And don't get me started on how Congress has forced (or allowed) the US military to privatize huge chunks of what previously was recognized as exclusively military responsibility.

Again, with the sole intent of having Oligarchs profit at the taxpayer-funded trough.

The moral? — With "big G" government — it's avaricious BS, all the time

Tribalized propaganda works because roughly half the population embraces it. In spite of voluminous evidence to the proposition's contrary.

And the equally partisan opposing half (of the public) is too dim-witted to recognize its own parallel gullibility.

Sheep stay sheep because they're sheep.

Ultimately, we're back to the ecosystemic image of wolves preying upon the human condition.

PeteFree.com

Law professor Marjorie Cohn wrote that Republicans — have made a mockery of the impeachment process — But isn't nearly everything officially American a mockery?