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No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container, or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a stand, that those who enter in may see the light. This is the parable of the lamp, a parable long forgotten in Washington. Torture is out of the headlines and President Obama doesn't mention investigating torture or any other questionable actions carried out by the prior administration. If a light exists it has yet to illuminate the truth. President Obama excuses his Department of Justice for not appointing a special prosecutor who could investigate the issues because he does not wish to divide those seeking the truth from those who prefer the darkness. Instead, he excuses the mistakes of the past by encouraging us all to move forward together in the dark. While Congress writes regulations and rules for business so they don't repeat the financial disasters we endure now, they hide the light that would illuminate their own failings and those of the prior administration. The message is clear, political problems are best left in darkness for the light merely divides those who might seek their resolution from those who prefer they never be addressed.
We borrow and print money to address the mismanagement issues that produced these problems and threw millions out of work. We end torture and an unnecessary war, close Guantanamo Bay prison and promise to improve government. Yet we ignore the foundation for these problems or ways to ensure they are not repeated. We assume our laws should prevent such problems and our legislative branch would hold leaders accountable but wonder if accountability today covers anything more than prosecution of those who lie about sexual transgressions. We are left in darkness attempting to see why the tools available to address and prevent these problems failed in the prior administration during both Republican and Democratic Congressional control.
Could a future President promote and then declare an unnecessary pre-emptive war? What barriers exist to stop a future leader from spying on US citizens without a court order or throwing them in jail and terminating their Constitutional rights based on charges without judicial review? What prevents a future President from telling his subordinates they don't need to testify before Congress or answer its questions? Who will demand accountability if such a leader proclaims he can do whatever he likes based on whatever legal brief his lawyers provide him as justification for these claims? If none have the courage to uncover the light to expose the truth about these problems and why they persisted who will have the courage or the strength to prevent them the next time? A shroud of darkness engulfs Washington producing a comforting amnesia. We don't need to self-evaluate, just to move on and forget. There is no need to question the legality of past actions, it would only encourage divisions between those seeking the truth and prevention of these problems and those who wish to avoid and ignore them. The light fails to shine because we fail to reject the shroud which covers it and we accept instead this darkness instead of the light that should divide the darkness into day and night.
