Oaths are fascinating. When politicians and judicial officers swear to enforce the law “without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”, they are attesting to the goodness of their motives. That they won’t just do the right thing, but will do it for the right reasons.
Consider the ethical car crash taking place in New South Wales around former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro. Currently, we are all on the same page about what senior ministers did wrong, and more critically, why they are being called to account. Namely, because they broke the conventions of impartiality and fairness that should govern all hiring decisions, but particularly for flush government jobs.
But if we were in a failing democracy, no such unanimity would prevail. Rather than accept the validity of the parliamentary inquiry looking into the allegations, or (eventually) set up an internal review to get to the truth, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet could have slammed the Public Accountability Committee’s probe as a Labor-led witchhunt. He could have backed offending ministers like Stuart Ayres, rather than supporting — in the face of damning evidence and pressure from colleagues — his resignation.
Would such behaviour be despicable and beneath the dignity of the premier’s office? Absolutely. Would it have undermined our faith in the integrity of our leaders, and the impartial conduct of government business according to law? Absolutely. Indeed, we’re watching this in real-time in the United States.
On Tuesday, the FBI searched Trump’s pseudo-presidential office at his south Florida country club Mar-a-Lago to recover documents that the ex-president removed from the White House when he left office. The search warrant was issued by a federal judge only after Trump refused to hand the documents back, despite months of negotiations with his lawyers about flagrantly violating the Presidential Records Act, and the ex-president’s suspected false statements that he’d returned all the classified material he took — a crime for which he wanted Hillary Clinton “locked up”.
In fact, the justification for what is inarguably an unprecedented law enforcement action on the home of a former US president runs considerably deeper than that. Turns out that after negotiations failed to get the material back, Trump had been subpoenaed to produce the documents, but had refused. And that among the documents that had not been returned earlier this year — when fifteen boxes of improperly removed documents were returned to the National Archives — was classified material “so sensitive in nature, and related to national security” that the Justice Department had no choice but to act.
But Republicans don’t see it that way, or at least they’re pretending not to. For them, nothing national — including security — exists. Everyone is either a Democrat or Republican and acts only from political motives. Namely, to help their own side or to screw the other. Facts don’t matter because they reveal nothing about motives, and the other side cherry-picks them at best or simply makes them up.
This is why Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida could describe the FBI search as the federal government acting like “the Gestapo … They just go after people”. And why House Leader Kevin McCarthy claimed it showed that the Department of Justice had “reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization” that warranted — when Republicans won the House in November — immediate congressional oversight. “Attorney-General Garland,” McCarthy said in a statement. “Preserve your documents and clear your calendar.”
What’s terrifying is that facts have no power here. Nor does reason, logic, precedent or indeed any of the tools of civilisation. Because once people believe others have no motive but to harm them, they feel hunted and are impossible to placate. Which is why all the sedate and informed discussions by former DOJ officials, about how the extent of classified material still in Trump’s possession justified the search, have fallen on deaf ears. And on right-wing platforms dominated by the most radical elements of Trump’s base, there’s talk of armed rebellion and civil war.
To say we don’t want to end up here is an understatement. This means not just calling state and federal governments to account for the grey corruption seen in the Barilaro case, but thanking our lucky stars that in Australia we’re having a conversation about the wrongs of such “soft” corruption.
We walked towards a half-way Largo house under the Morrison federal government. Morrison blocked enquiries, or only had internal ones managed by his Office of the Prime Minister, or he had the AFP declare they had no found no evidence after they purportedly held some secret investigation of evidence against some of his ministers, or other MPs that he needed to keep his majority. It was a tour de force of denial, obfustication and flim-flammery. And it happened regularly!
That Morrison admired, and sought to replicate, the scumbaggery of Trump tells you all you need to know about never allowing radical religious zealotry anywhere near our politics.
And many of his good middle-class supporters agreed with him.
I watched Foreign Correspondent last night. Listening to Republican voters from Wyoming on why they will not be supporting the re-election of Liz Cheney was truly mind-boggling. Too much focus on the events at the Capitol on 6 January 2020 was a major crime to many. Good government is not a consideration. All is partisan politics. USA is a disaster.
Once again, the US is a cautionary tale for the other liberal democracies.
And wouldn’t it be a good idea to have an inquiry into the way the major media players propagate and sustain this level of cant, mendacity, and division.
Agreed, control of information outlets/the media is how their social cultural conversations have been hijacked for profit taking motives.
The concept of fact checking by an independant body that has the power to publish alongside dodgy articles is quickly becoming a critical part of keeping a democracy intact.
What should be pointed out is the reaction of the Murdoch owned Fox News and their deranged reaction. Does it not ever cross the minds of the Murdochs that their talking heads do much to undermine trust in government and the institutions behind it?
We should not forget that the Murdoch press here want to disband the ABC, want to effectively have one media voice and be able to control the discussion and the agenda.
We can’t be too complacent while the Murdochs still have such sway here.
The Murdochs and their evil minions must go..Royal Commission followed by criminal proceedings now!
Evil corporate bullies like Murdoch believe in government and rule of law about the same as playground bullies believe in playground monitors and rules.
Agree they are culpable and that without a solution consistent with the viewpoint diversity required in a truly democratic society both We are at risk of similar democratic meltdown here.
Malcolm turnbull reduced viewpoint diversity, aided by Jackie lambie.
Everyone who cares about the Murdoch’s attempts to disband the ABC should join the Friends of the ABC and, if they can afford it, donate to the Friends.
I listened to a a fair bit of the Education Ministers’ press conference today. I don’t know how genuine they are in their commitment to fixing the mess confronting us, but it was amazing that the federal Minister and all the state Ministers I heard were actually talking about our teachers and our children rather than party or state interests or culture wars rubbish. I can’t remember when I last heard all ministers focused on learning, teaching and education and finding a common foundation from which to build. It might have actually been the first time in my life and it seemed quite miraculous.