While I often see a few libertarian-themed memes, and maybe a few comments here and there, though it seems lately like there is a lack of interest about the various reports of corruption and investigations into Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton (which actually came about from demands from Democrats who insisted Trump’s Russian connections be checked out). But libertarians appear almost completely silent. And I think people are probably wondering why libertarians either don’t seem that interested, or don’t pick a side.
I can’t speak for all libertarians, but I think I can speculate with some accuracy: The reason libertarians might seem a little silent as a Tom Clancy novel about spies, foreign entanglements, secret deals, and vast corruption plays out, is that they really aren’t very surprised. It isn’t that there is a complete lack of interest. It’s just that it’s all more of the same thing that libertarians have been discussing for decades, and no one else has been listening. It feels like an “I told you so” moment. There isn’t anything shocking that has not happened before, and picking a side that seems more likely to be telling the truth seems somewhat pointless. Whether anyone is telling the truth (and it is likely no one is being truthful), is beside the point. The point is that it is all corrupt, and it is all been happening for a long time.
I want to ask Americans what they expected when they put forth the two options of Clinton and Trump and acted as if that were a real choice. That’s simply a choice between political corruption and political corruption, and why should anyone be surprised? It is often said that the Office of the President of the United States is the “Leader of the Free World.” That is a truly immense power. It is nearly impossible for that sort of power not to involve corruption. When you create a power of such significant size, then it has too much power, and there are just too many interests vying for its benefits.
Maybe it just sounds too crass and cynical, but I am having trouble caring very much about who the guilty parties really are nearly as much as I care about the fact that the office of POTUS, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, and whatever other agencies you might want to include, are so powerful as to be so disruptive both within the US and the entire world. It isn’t at all that I don’t care that people at these top levels are so corrupt and potentially highly treasonous, but it’s more that they have the sort of power that makes treason have such drastic effects and consequences.
Maybe it is just me, and maybe other libertarians are a lot more alarmed by who did what and exactly which party is the most guilty. Maybe I’m just not seeing it.
But if I am really seeing a lack of talk about it, I think it is because of the reasons I’ve outlined.
As long as Republicans think only Democrats can be corrupt and as long as Democrats think only Republicans can be corrupt, and as long as this is all a game of making one team look better than the other, then corruption will always continue and will always escalate to ever further depths within the mud of the swamp. That swamp is not getting drained at all. It is just growing continually to include new members of those elected to office. It doesn’t matter which team you support. The swamp will never get drained until the power is taken away from politicians and given back to the people.
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Danny Chabino
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