There were plenty of items people felt required attention: the alleged war crimes, a war of choice in Iraq under false pretenses, the "enhanced interrogations".
There was the outing of an undercover CIA agent for political motives, the firing of states attorneys, the attacks on civil liberties in the wake of 9/11. And the beat went on.
Rightly or wrongly, the Obama Administration did not go after people from the Bush Administration. The nation teetered on the brink of economic collapse. Two wars were being fought and were not going well. I'm sure the political calculus was that now wasn't the time for what would be seen by many as partisan political prosecutions.
Assuming a Democrat replaces Donald Trump at some point, it has to be different this time. Too much has happened outside the norms of a democracy, of a functioning republic. Examples must be made. A price has to be exacted to deter this from happening again.
First there is the unprecedented corruption. Trump and his family are using the White House as an extension of their business and personal finances. Money is pouring in from foreign and domestic sources to Trump and Trump related businesses and are influencing policy direction. People need to be prosecuted, fined and sent to jail so the next person thinks twice before deciding to seek the highest office so they can use the government as their personal ATM. I'm thinking Trump, Ivanka, Jared and Don Jr at a minimum have to know the inside of an age appropriate detention center, aka a jail.
At the least there has to be laws passed that nobody gets on a ballot for President in any state without releasing a sufficient number of years of tax returns. And once elected any investments or business holdings must be sold off, or placed in a true double-blind trust.
Then there is the political corruption. Obviously many Cabinet members seems to be violating ethics laws.
But mostly I'm thinking of the terrible, unspeakable horror of these past weeks. The turning away of asylum seekers at the Southern border and the zero tolerance policy where children, some only months old, are taken from their parents. And since the children and adults fall under diferent jurisdictions and agencies there is the real possibility some will never be reunited.
This is a true crime against humanity. Again people should be investigated and if warranted, prosecuted, as a deterrent from any administration going down this road ever again. This would include everyone from Trump and his creepy henchman Stephen Miller all the way down to the border guards physically blocking people from entering legally at a port of entry.
Whether you gave the orders or were just following orders doesn't matter. The concentration camps, the Holocaust, were legal under German law. We executed people who were just following orders, who were simply enforcing the law. We prosecuted and imprisoned SS guards. Likewise with this Trump policy, from top to bottom, anyone involved with this crime against humanity must be held to account.
I'm sure if a Democratic administration goes down this path there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Republicans will scream. But when do they not scream and obstruct? We saw how they responded to any good will or overtures from Obama. They will fight tooth and nail, vilify, obstruct and refuse to cooperate with the next Democratic President under any and all circumstances.
The Beltway pundits will be apoplectic at what our politics have become. But they take Democrats to task for showing any backbone and never hold Republicans accountable for anything they do, so it is time for Democrats at the national level to ignore their double standards.
Still, I'm sure this could be set up so it is independent of the White House, the DOJ, and has Congressional oversight. It will still be called a partisan political witch hunt, but it should be fair and open.
But the reasons for doing this have nothing to do with partisan politics, or punishing political rivals. It is about restoring dignity, honor and the rule of law to our country. It is about reclaiming and reaffirming the ideals we have always claimed as our own as Americans, even when we fall short of achieving them.
There must be accountability so that nobody runs for President again thinking they can make the U.S. government an extension of their personal business empire. There must be accountability so nobody runs for President again without all their foreign entanglements being known. There must be accountability so no future administration thinks they can commit atrocities in our name and then live freely among us as respected members of society.
This time we can't simply turn the page.