A Year, A Nutshell

The Jon Swift Memorial Roundup for 2014.

On Majority Report, Sam and guest Digby sum up the year-end theme: no consequences to those who abuse authority, whether they ordered torture or fixed a grand jury.

Digby sees release of the torture report as a turning point: "Where it's a debate at all... it's just another issue to be haggled about, like capital gains tax." No matter what happened in practice, the government had never before admitted to torture, and now it's simply accepted policy. Of the White House's refusal to take a position on the report, Sam says, "It was basically a McCulloch: 'we let the grand jury take a look, and there's no point in us weighing in.'"

Digby kept returning to the idea that something very substantial has shifted. That it's no accident Cheney's goal was to restore executive branch power, or that he had the Justice Department issue orders, creating "a new world of 'get out of jail free cards': as long as some lawyer in some department signs a memo that it's legal... There's now a legitimate excuse for anything a member of government does, and there's no end to it." And the sheer incompetence at exercising the power they've seized only earns them promotions and Medals of Freedom. After all, says Digby, "They are patriots doing their best to protect us. If they make us less safe, well we need to thank them for that and move along."

With the new public attention to out of control police behavior, says Digby, the outrageously inappropriate reactions of some spokespeople is also like McCulloch: "Police have a tough job. I put every liar on the stand; let the people decide." Same for CIA threats: "don't criticize us or you'll make us afraid to do our jobs. Nice little country here; be a shame if anything happened to it." Police threatening to withhold protection if criticized use the same tactic. are the same. Digby thinks this is a broad cultural change in acceptance of this authoritarian "we're above criticism; if you criticize us, we'll make you pay."

And so the discussion continued, as we are about to move into the new year with GOP domination of Congress and an Establishment egging on "Bipartisanship" around issues like TPP. As Digby and Sam said, there are good reasons why TPP details are secret; "fast track" is purely a strategy for the Senate to avoid having to defend the indefensible. Sam: "It's another McCulloch moment: 'it's not our business to vote on this.'"

Sadly, "McCulloch moment" has got to be the most apt new usage of 2014.