Who Can We Trust if the Supreme Court and Secret Service Cannot Be Trusted

Over the last year and six months, I have lost 100% of my faith in America’s government. I am not referring exclusively to the three branches designed to lead our country; I mean everyone from the President to an intern on Capitol Hill. I not only object to the constant practice of lying to the American people in the form of direct lies, conspiracy theories, and fallacious claims of secrecy based on “reasons of national security,” I would include anyone who has any dealings with anyone else, even the lowest level of power in Washington. Capitol Hill has become its own “secret society.”

For our current government, hiding information from the voting public is critical for their personal success. If we knew the absolute truth about every man and woman who is privileged to be employed on Capitol Hill, the revolution would begin tomorrow.

There is no longer any question that the government of the United States is the most corrupt in the free world. I have questioned hundreds of actions by our elected officials since I was fooled into voting for Ronald Reagan in 1980. I don’t make the same mistake twice.

However, Republicans are not the only villains in this story. Democrats had looked the other way dozens of times when right-wing extremists committed egregious crimes against our nation. If our government were legitimate and believed in their oaths of office, Donald Trump would be in prison awaiting trial.

Courtesy of Victoria Pickering (Flickr CC0)

Treason is the greatest crime in American citizen can commit. The proof is overwhelming: Millions of Americans watched it happen on January 6, 2021. Testimony by dozens of men and women directly involved in the day-to-day operation of Trump’s administration confirmed that Trump planned and organized an attempted coup weeks before he ordered his minions to halt the certification of the Electoral College vote.

In any other country, the man or woman who was charged with leading their nation, and actively attempted to overthrow its very existence, would have been tried and imprisoned or executed long before I felt obligated to write this story.

Instead, Trump remains free, continuing to divide our country and destroy its very existence.

On June 24, 2022, one of the darkest days in our nation’s history, it was confirmed that the United States Supreme Court has been corrupted and is no longer viable. Originally intended to be apolitical, this court is biased and prejudiced beyond my imagination. “The Six Bad Actors” are traitors to the courageous men and women who preceded them.

This attack on our nation has not ceased and is spreading like a disease that could be terminal for the once respected country of our founding fathers.

The latest agency under close investigation is the Secret Service. The purpose of this agency is the same as all others. All government employees take the same oath of office. They promise to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Their loyalty cannot be to the man or woman who they are assigned to protect. It must be to the country they serve. They have a job and nothing more. Their oath to perform that job to the best of their ability is that job alone and must supersede their personal beliefs.

It is now a fact that some Secret Service agents destroyed texts on their phones related to the events of January 5th and 6th. Prior to their criminal actions, the select committee investigating the failed coup had ordered these phones to be surrendered as part of their investigation. They were clearly erased after the request. This is obstruction of justice and a criminal offense punishable by detention in federal prison.

My new life’s motto is “truth no one,” which is painful to admit. I have been a critic of the executive and legislative branches for decades, but my hope remained in the professionalism and patriotism of the Supreme Court.

However, in 1991, after the confirmation of Clarence Thomas, the doubts began. Between 2017 and 2020, Moscow Mitch McConnell broke his own rule and proved that he is an old racist without any redeeming qualities when he stacked the Court and ended any respect I possessed for anyone on the right side of the aisle.

Today I believe that any man or woman involved in our government, law enforcement, or the judicial system is not worthy of respect and definitely not my trust. Our nation is quietly in a struggle between the people and everyone in power. Only our votes can save our nation. Please vote in November and 2024 and fight for the survival of democracy.

Op-ed by James Turnage, Novelist

Sources:

The Intercept: SECRET SERVICE DELETED JAN. 6 TEXT MESSAGES AFTER OVERSIGHT OFFICIALS REQUESTED THEM; by Ken Slippenstein
NPR: The National Archives is looking into reports that the Secret Service deleted texts

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Alex Proimos’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Victoria Pickering’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License