THE ROBERT MUELLER SHOW: AND WE ARE NOT SAVED

We’ve had two inspirational American presidents during our lifetimes - John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. In different contexts, they requested sacrifice. Kennedy, as an organizing principle for his New Frontier, suggested Americans ask what they could do for their country when juxtaposed with asking what the country could do for them. Obama, in seeking passage of the Affordable Care Act, implicitly asked that some Democratic House members sacrifice their seats so millions could have health insurance. The bill passed, and Republicans won the House in 2010.

After Robert Mueller’s appearance before two House committees proved the  Special Counsel couldn’t magically make beginning an impeachment inquiry on President Trump easy, we ask what sacrifice Democratic politicians will make in the cause of saving our democracy. Mueller didn’t “move the needle” in favor of impeachment, leaving in place the political reasons for not proceeding. We think, however, impeachment should remain an option and if some Democratic office-holders lose their seats in that process, so be it.  America has been attacked. We’re already at war. War comes with casualties.

Mueller’s Testimony

We need say little about Mueller’s July 24 testimony. For most of the day, he looked older than his 74 years, fumbling for references in his report and having trouble hearing the questions. He perked up in the afternoon session before the Intelligence Committee, freed from the constraints of obstruction of justice law and anxiously venting his concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 election and the likelihood of a repeat.

Mueller’s halting delivery and snooze-button demeanor made for less than compelling television, especially as it unfolded. Edited clips looked better, but pundits still gave the exercise a failing grade and even left-leaning commentators pronounced impeachment dead, especially if Mueller’s appearance was to have turbocharged the process.  

Having said all that, the substance of what Mueller told the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees was compelling. Under focused, disciplined questioning by well-prepared Democrats who swore off grandstanding for efficiency and clarity, Mueller laid out what’s in his 400 plus page report that so few Americans have read. Trump’s bad acts became disgustingly obvious for anyone paying attention. Had any other President committed even one of the sins the testimony covered, that President would have been drummed out of office long ago.    

Impeachment and 2020

As the talking heads analyzed impeachment prospects in light of Mueller’s day, one piece of reporting caught our eye. A congressional staffer allegedly said impeachment won’t happen because the 218 votes required in the House aren’t there and won’t be there. Thirty-one House Democrats who represent Trump-leaning districts can’t support it. Voting for impeachment supposedly would sound an electoral death knell for these Representatives.

For this reason, Mueller’s appearance barely moved House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She’s insisted she’d rather see Trump in prison than impeached, believing the best way for ridding the nation of him lies at the 2020 ballot box, then perhaps prosecuting him for his crimes after he leaves office.

We get the politics and we desperately want Trump gone too. But we wonder if Speaker Pelosi has considered:

·      Trump has already invited foreign intervention in the next election, signaling he’d turn our democratic traditions over to foreign dictators.

·      Mueller and American intelligence agencies recognize how serious a problem we have. Mueller wondered if foreign election interference has become “the new normal.” Without impeachment, does that happen?

·      With war already underway, perhaps we don’t have the luxury of worrying about political survival of backbench House members.

·      Can our relatively young democracy stand eight years of Trump and is the risk of that worth taking?

Mutually Exclusive?

We also question another aspect of Pelosi’s political calculation. Her strategy gives America one shot at getting rid of Trump – the 2020 election. Suppose that shot misses? Wouldn’t two chances be better?

An impeachment inquiry and beating Trump in the election aren’t mutually exclusive. The approaches could, in fact, work hand-in-hand in ridding us of him. It’s true the Senate probably won’t remove Trump, but the facts brought out in an impeachment inquiry could significantly aid the 2020 campaign effort.

Information developed in a full-fledged impeachment inquiry might serve as a powerful weapon for the 2020 Democratic ticket. Impeachment could animate and mobilize the Democratic base. Pundits speak often of Trump’s base, but a Democratic base exists and most of it wants Trump impeached. A vigorous impeachment inquiry that explains the already exposed Trump crimes could fire up and turn out the Democratic base, especially in the key Midwestern states Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. Turnout in the 2018 mid-terms, especially in the suburbs where women made the difference for Democrats, suggests the potential of an energized electorate.

So, we return to sacrifice. If the price of ditching Trump

includes an unpopular impeachment vote and loss of a few congressional seats, perhaps that’s a price worth paying. Most people go into politics claiming they do so not for themselves, but for serving the greater good. Maybe we test that claim. We ask America’s finest young women and men for the ultimate sacrifice in war. Perhaps, in this war, we ask office-holders for the ultimate political sacrifice.       

IF WE RULED THE WORLD: JWW AS DICTATORS

An old Temptations hit - / Can't Get Next to You, penned by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong - embodies notions of what each of us might do with complete power over the affairs of humankind. Suppose we could even alter the laws of  nature, as the song contemplated.

For those who don't remember the song (or are too young to have known it when it reached

number one on the pop chart in 1969), we'll recap. A smitten young man laments the fact that though he possesses amazing, magical powers ("I can make it rain whenever I want it to ... I can live forever if I so desire") he can't "get next to" the object of his affections. What would we do with such power? What if we were dictator?

                           

Given our interest in public affairs, perhaps it's not surprising that when asked to list three things each would do if we became dictator and wielded unlimited powers, we focused on the public sphere.

Henry:  Humanitarian Supreme

• I would order immediate and simultaneous destruction of all weapons and weapons delivery systems. While I might need more time for defining "weapon," I can say now I would focus on weapons of war that can massively and randomly destroy human life. We could start with weapons of mass destruction and work from there, whichleads to my second edict.

• I would establish a worldwide commission with a peace agenda. This commission would study peace initiatives and take all actions necessary for implementing them. 

• Finally, I would take every action needed for assuring food and medical supplies reach people in need of them, in both emergency and non-emergency situations. No one in the world should go hungry or suffer from illness because of a lack of medical supplies and treatment.

Woodson: Fixing the Public Square

• Prejudices - racial, ethnic, gender-based, religious, age, sexual orientation - rob our society of its vitality and divert attention and resources from pursuit of our highest aspirations. When I become dictator, prejudices are all gone.

• A lack of education arrests personal development promotes income and wealth inequality and
  
  destroys economic competiveness. As dictator, I would create an educational system that permits everyone to attain the level of education to which they aspire.

• I would focus my dictatorship on America, so I'd seek improvement in the U.S. political system. In a democracy, that means paying attention to elections.  As a dictator, I would institute a system of public
  
  financing of elections, eliminating all private money from the campaign finance system.

Rob: Ignorance, Sports, Climate

• America's racial problem lies, first and foremost, in ignorance. Too many people don't know America's racial past. Too many who do prefer forgetting it and "moving on." To undo this ignorance, I’d require that before getting a driver's license or other government-issued identification or receiving any government benefit, every person spend six weeks in a camp reading our three favorite books about  the history of our racial dysfunction: The Half Has Never Been Told, The Warmth of Other Suns, and The Color of Law.  Can't read? We'll teach you, and then you can do your six weeks.

• As a college sports fan, I abhor the "great man" culture  surrounding many top college football and basketball programs. This culture flourishes, in part, because of a lack of transparency. Coaches
  
  become god-like figures, operating behind closed doors and with hyper­ controlled media access. The coach can do no wrong and is barely accountable to anyone. This led to the Penn State sexual abuse scandal and, I believe, contributed to player injuries and deaths behind closed doors at other institutions.  Sunshine being the best disinfectant, when I become dictator, all college athletic practices, locker rooms, and other facilities will be open to the media and the public.

• Climate change represents one of our most significant public policy challenges of the next two or three decades. Despite overwhelming scientific
  
  evidence, climate change deniers still populate every level of government. When I become dictator, every elected and appointed official who will not certify a commitment to fighting climate change must spend six weeks as {a) a firefighter in the American West, {b) filling sand bags in the flooded Midwest, {c) working on construction of seawalls and barriers in Florida, or {d) monitoring glaciers melting in the Artic.

In a sense, our accounts of what we'd do as dictator represent our wish lists for America and the world. Thinking of it this way offers a different perspective and makes us ask how we could make these things happen. They are fantasies, of course, but think of what life could be like if we, as a nation, and as a world, accomplished them. There's nothing wrong with dreaming.