The Arlington Conspiracy (Part 3) Corruption
“The whole point about corruption in politics is that it can’t be done, or done properly, without a bipartisan consensus.”
― Christopher Hitchens
Even from the grave, Mr. Hitchens can be relied upon to describe truth. The corrupt Naming Commission and report have the blessing of Republicans and conservatives in Congress. Too harsh?
- 109 House Republicans voted to override the veto allowing the legislation, establishing the committee, to pass. Without these votes, the veto would have succeeded.
- The Senate overrode the veto by a vote of 81 to 13 which means a majority of Republicans voted to override.
- Republican U.S. Representative Austin Scott of Georgia was one of the commissioners. He has not described what he disagrees with in the report. He has been very quiet.
Putting a weak Republican on the commission and not sustaining the veto are not necessarily evidence of bi-partisan action. The strategy could have been to wait for the report and then attack its weaknesses and deceitfulness. This is not the case.
- It appears no Republicans have read the report based on the lack of comments in the press.
- Republicans are not quick to express their unfiltered views when asked. I just got off the phone with Senator Wicker’s office and after six weeks of trying, I still don’t know where the senator stands on Ezekiel’s monument.
- There are technical issues with the report that could be easily exploited even for an average politician. No Republicans are doing it.
- The report says Confederates were treasonous. Ty Seidule, the vicechair, called them traitors when he tweeted about the completion of the report. I am not aware of a Republican challenging him.
- No Republican staffer noticed that the Arlington National Cemetery part of the report is a plagiarism.
The process is corrupt, and Republicans are responsible for it. A feature of our federal republic is the protection of minority views. There are tens of millions of Americans who have not been heard because of the cowardice of their federal representatives. They have not done their jobs nor lived up to their oaths.
