Sound And Fury Signifying…What?

     There are days when another writer says what I had in mind, but more concisely and eloquently than I would. This is such a day:

     Remember, always temper investigative optimism about foreign policy corruption with two big picture realities.

     First, the entire business model of DC politics is designed around politicians selling U.S. government policy for personal financial gain. The Republicans and the Democrats both participate in this endeavor. This is why multi-millionaire candidates will spend $10+ million on a campaign to take a job as a senator earning $400k/yr.

     Second, the House Oversight Committee is the Chaff and Countermeasures committee. The congressional committee without specific jurisdiction where all congressional investigations are sent to generate fundraising points, and then die a kick-the-can death.

     It cannot be said better than that. Sundance, whatever your real name is, I hope I someday get the chance to shake your hand.

     Have a few words from Isabel Paterson:

     Now the sole remedy for the abuse of political power is to limit it; but when politics corrupt business, modern reformers invariably demand the enlargement of the political power. There was a time when people had either more sense or more honesty; but perhaps it was only that the issue could not be mistaken, as it then appeared.

     Though Paterson was speaking of corporations and the way their unique properties animated the distortion of federal law, her central point is equally applicable to the corruption of any variety of political power, including the power to shape American foreign policy. Given the immense amounts of money that flow across America’s borders under the aegis of “foreign aid,” it would seem that influence over foreign policy decisions is at least as tempting a target as any niche in domestic policy.

     But politicians with that sort of influence to sell won’t come cheaply. Neither is it likely that they’ll be “honest politicians:” i.e., once bought they’ll stay bought. So it would behoove the would-be purchaser to honor Lawrence Block’s Maxim:

     And indeed, it appears that several purchasers of the foreign-policy influence of Joe Biden have plenty of dirt put away for that purpose. The testimony rendered yesterday before the House Oversight Committee by Devon Archer makes that indisputable.

     Will we get a “full readout” on all that dirt? I doubt it severely. It’s likely that other highly placed political figures would be hurt at least as badly as Biden. Some of those folks are still in service and will “stay bought.” Any who have influence to wield over the inquiries in progress will use it to the hilt to prevent a deep investigation or the criminal indictments that would follow.

     There’s no point in asking whether those wielders of influence have a D or an R after their names.

     Call it cynicism if you like; I maintain that there is no longer any reason for an honest citizen to concern himself with electoral politics. The machines choose the nominees, and you can bet the rent money that they do so collaboratively. Their aim is to ensure that whoever gets elected will be acceptable to the machine. Why else would they have enlisted the media in guaranteeing that third-party and independent candidates are always relegated to the shadows?

     Just once, in a century and a half, a candidate from outside “respectable” political circles rose to power. The resulting earthquake came near to destroying Washington. Donald Trump was outside the kingmakers’ control. They had no lever with which to bend him. He threatened the cozy arrangements that had guaranteed power, prestige, and pelf to every member of the political elite…and he had the majority of the American people behind him.

     Why else would there have been endless trumpeting about “Russian collusion,” demands for Trump’s federal tax returns, media concentration on the tawdry “Stormy Daniels” business, or the criminal pursuit of virtually every individual in Trump’s circles with a recognizable name or face? Why else would the kingmakers have engineered the unconcealed theft of the 2020 presidential election – and to install an obvious dementia sufferer in the Oval Office, at that? Would any lesser prize have been a sufficient motivation?

     The prizes in this game are numbered in the tens of billions of dollars.

     Concerning the aforementioned dementia sufferer, there are other things to be added to the tally:

     “Here’s what I’ll do for you, Charles, if you don’t tell me how to delay the nuclear attack. I’ll let you go, get you all cleaned up, back to your tip-top condition and send you on your way, back to your life, and as you arrive back at whichever estate, the news will break, here in the U.S. and around the world, that you are a pedophile.”
     Spencer froze. It was as though he turned into polished marble, the transformation was so immediate and complete.
     “Yes,” the General said, “we know all about your secret life. Did you think that you would be allowed to accumulate all that money and power without us retaining methods of control? We don’t care about your habits. But we know how attached you are to your grand reputation in the bourgeois world, and what this revelation would do to you.”
     Decades of cultivated arrogance drained out of Spencer in a matter of seconds. The General had the thing that was worse than death for him. Spencer hung limply in his restraints.

     Martin McPhillips, Corpse In Armor

     Pedophilia is an accusation that’s broken many, men and women both. When McPhillips wrote Corpse In Armor, that technique would have worked to break all but the most brazen. But today, the dementia sufferer in the Oval Office is also a pedophile. His daughter Ashley’s diary has revealed the depth of his evil to us. It’s easy to believe, given his public behavior. Is there anyone who doesn’t know about his penchant for swimming nude while female Secret Service agents are on duty? Is there anyone who’d dispute the claim that for Joe Biden to get away with this, he must be only one among many?

     Would anyone like to discuss why the legacy media are up in arms against the Sound of Freedom movie?

     The political system in these United States has fallen entirely into the hands of villains. Some are of the worst sort: murderers, rapists, and pedophiles. Others are merely in it for the money. But their grip is of iron. We will not restore honesty to that system without toppling the existing Establishment entirely – and that will require us to act outside the electoral machinery. We’re not voting our way out of this.

     But to return to the original subject of this tirade, what will come out of the House Oversight Committee’s hearings, the testimony of Devon Archer, and all the related crap is exactly this: a few days of thunderous bellowing from politicians who can squeeze a few votes or a few bucks out of the temporary publicity it will garner. There will be no indictments. If the House of Representatives should vote to impeach Joe Biden or any official of his Administration, the Senate will refuse to convict. A few lower-level functionaries will be pensioned off and warned not to speak further. Business as usual, in the lowest and most despicable sense, will continue.

     Apologies, Gentle Reader. Forgive me for “harshing your mellow.” At least I held it off until Tuesday.