Hillary Clinton could be sworn into office as the next President of the United States in less than a year. So it’s important to keep that backdrop in mind as we discuss Apple’s battle with the FBI. The head of the FBI is not elected. He is appointed directly by the President.
If you are under the age of forty, you probably have no idea what the “Filegate” scandal was all about. In 1996 it was discovered that the White House had the FBI files on hundreds of individuals who just happened to be on the Clinton’s enemies list. This aspect of the scandal is not in dispute. Whether it was intentional or an honest mistake as the Clinton administration asserted was an unresolved question. The Clintons used the Bart Simpson defense: they didn’t request them and they don’t know why all those files were there. It was a hazy mess, but at the center of it all was Hillary Clinton around whom everything seemed to revolve. It was one of her direct hires, Craig Livingstone, who requested the files and took the fall.
Hillary’s current e-mail scandal seems to follow a similar pattern. She was caught red-handed circumventing laws that are plainly spelled out. Her defense is again that it was all a bureaucratic snafu with no ill intent. But Hillary went way beyond many public officials who have used a private e-mail address to occasionally conduct official business. She implemented a full plan to systematically keep her e-mails off of future FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. By routing her e-mails through her private server, she ensured that her correspondence wouldn’t be archived by the Federal Government. Comparing her complex plan to hide her e-mails to someone who simply used a yahoo address is like equating a bank robber to someone who inadvertently carried a pen home from work. Scope and magnitude make all the difference.
Hillary ended up with a basement full of the FBI files on people she hated because FBI Director Louis Freeh reported directly to her husband. I shudder to think what she might try to get away with if she’s directly in charge. The FBI in its current state is one of the most effective and powerful investigatory entities in the world. To actually consider giving them the keys to cameras, microphones, and the mini-databases that we all carry with us each day scares me even more. Couple that with placing a power-hungry individual who has demonstrated that she believes she is above the law is a recipe for disaster.
The office of the presidency doesn’t create or decide on matters of law. That is for our congress and court system. No, our president is the chief enforcer. He or she is given the keys to the military to ensure that our borders are not violated and to the FBI to uphold domestic law. There must be checks and balances in the system to account for a weak link in the hierarchy. If the American people are duped into electing a Machiavellian official who considers the law as nothing more than a speed bump, we will be glad that the FBI isn’t given omnipotent power.
Hillary’s current e-mail scandal seems to follow a similar pattern. She was caught red-handed circumventing laws that are plainly spelled out. Her defense is again that it was all a bureaucratic snafu with no ill intent. But Hillary went way beyond many public officials who have used a private e-mail address to occasionally conduct official business. She implemented a full plan to systematically keep her e-mails off of future FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. By routing her e-mails through her private server, she ensured that her correspondence wouldn’t be archived by the Federal Government. Comparing her complex plan to hide her e-mails to someone who simply used a yahoo address is like equating a bank robber to someone who inadvertently carried a pen home from work. Scope and magnitude make all the difference.
Hillary ended up with a basement full of the FBI files on people she hated because FBI Director Louis Freeh reported directly to her husband. I shudder to think what she might try to get away with if she’s directly in charge. The FBI in its current state is one of the most effective and powerful investigatory entities in the world. To actually consider giving them the keys to cameras, microphones, and the mini-databases that we all carry with us each day scares me even more. Couple that with placing a power-hungry individual who has demonstrated that she believes she is above the law is a recipe for disaster.
The office of the presidency doesn’t create or decide on matters of law. That is for our congress and court system. No, our president is the chief enforcer. He or she is given the keys to the military to ensure that our borders are not violated and to the FBI to uphold domestic law. There must be checks and balances in the system to account for a weak link in the hierarchy. If the American people are duped into electing a Machiavellian official who considers the law as nothing more than a speed bump, we will be glad that the FBI isn’t given omnipotent power.
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