"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Friday, May 9, 2014

Pelosi, Kangaroo Courts and the Future of Democracy



































Nancy Pelosi is a former Speaker of the House.   So when she leads other Democrats in calling the Select Committee named by John Boehner to investigate the Benghazi scandal a "kangaroo court" she is doing something that is extraordinarily dangerous to the future of democracy.   What she is essentially saying is that the Constitution, which created a House of Representatives and gave it an oversight function within our system of checks and balances, doesn't matter; that the people, who voted in each and every one of the Republican majority, don't matter; and, ultimately, that the rule of law doesn't matter.  

Webster's defines a "kangaroo court" as one "in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted"; or one "characterized by irresponsible, unauthorized, or irregular status or procedures."   Does she really believe that the House Select Committee, chaired by Trey Gowdy, a former federal and state prosecutor, will "disregard" or "pervert" principles of law or justice?   Does she really believe that the Committee will be characterized by "irresponsible, unauthorized or irregular" procedures?   If so, what procedures is she talking about?    Identify them, and perhaps they can be remedied.  
 
Here's the nut of the matter:  does she really believe that it is somehow illegal for the House to investigate the Benghazi scandal?   If not, she should shut up about "kangaroo courts."  

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