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Summary
“My mind is made up; don’t confuse me with the facts.”
Do you know anyone whose mind was changed about the person or party they support as a result of the Mueller report?
After two years years of investigation by top-line professionals with all sorts of investigative resources at their command, don’t you suppose there should have been general agreement about the Mueller report result? Not a chance. The investigation produced a 400 page report–and no changed minds.
Why?
That’s the subject of today’s 10-minute podcast.
Continuing
The answer to the following question is telling: Are you angry or relieved that the President of the United States was not found guilty of colluding with a foreign power to alter the results of a presidential election?
Some people are angry because they were convinced that Trump was guilty well before the report was released. Why? Because they simply wanted him gone? Because certain news sources had been telling them that for about two years?
Others, the people from day one who had decided that Trump was not guilty, are angry because they believe the whole agonizing, national process was a politically-inspired fishing expedition, with no other purpose than to damage the President.
The only relieved–non-angry–people are the ones who withheld judgment until the evidence in the report was released. And who among them would not be relieved to know that their President had not colluded with the Russians to better his election chances.
Here is my summary of the Mueller report. There was no collusion, and Mueller did not find enough evidence to charge obstruction. Mueller and his team investigated 10 incidents of possible obstruction, and found none to be worthy of further action on his part. Trump did urge some of his senior staff to take actions that could very well have been seen as obstructions, but each one refused. And Trump backed down each time. Discredit to Trump for trying. Credit to his staff for standing firm.
The report also revealed something long true about Trump that anyone who had been paying attention should have already known. Donald J. Trump repeatedly does things that are embarrassing and wrong to cover up other things that he has done that are embarrassing and wrong. But not criminal.
Trump and others are claiming full exoneration. That’s the truth and nothing but the truth, but not the whole truth. He was exonerated of collusion, but not of the obstruction. When faced with the “no exoneration” on collusion part of the report, the response is that obstruction on a non-crime, the report said there was no collusion, is a thin premise upon which to seek further action.
Democrats and much of the media are still insisting that Bob Mueller has laid out the case for Congress to take action on obstruction. Some are already calling for impeachment. One representative, Rashida Tlaib, D-MI, did not feel constrained to wait for the evidence in the report when she shouted, “We’re gonna impeach the motherfucker!” hours after being sworn into Congress last January 3rd.
To date, the Mueller investigation and the reaction to it has produced more heat than light. The Democrats seem determined to let nothing drop until they have proven what they want to prove. Or at least have provided enough cover to keep their voters and viewers happy. Trump and some of the Republicans appear to be ready to launch an investigation of their own into Hillary Clinton and what they believe to have been the nefarious political origins of the Mueller investigation. If that happens, do you think that anyone’s mind will be changed as a result? Will we once again produce more stress, more division, and no changed minds or hearts?
There are two Key Points today: 1. No matter how much you dislike or even despise an office holder, that is no reason for impeachment. That’s what the electoral process is for. Organize to defeat him in the next election. If criminal charges are called for, press them and hope for a conviction. If not, donate to his opponent in the next election, and go ring doorbells for him. 2. Let’s demand better candidates in the first place. How many of us believe that Hillary and Donald were anything close to the best this nation of 330 million people, the world’s oldest democracy, could produce? In my podcast, “2016 Election, Rutabaga or Turnip?” (EP. 97) I dig into this Hobson’s Choice.
If we want either steak or salmon for dinner, we won’t get it if we go to a restaurant that offers only shepherd’s pie or tofu delight. If you want either mashed potatoes or yam as side dishes, don’t go to a place that offers only rutabagas or turnips.
“I don’t care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating.” -Boss Tweed, an American politician and political boss of Tammany Hall, who became an icon of urban political machines.
The process is simple. If we want better office holders, we need better candidates. If we want better candidates, we need to be better voters. It is not enough to be informed. It is not enough to be a well informed voter. We need to act. And if we, you and I, don’t do something, then the others who are doing something, will continue to run the show. And the choice we face in 2020 or 2024 or…will again produce less than optimal candidates.
Segueing from the specifics of today’s topic to overall principles, the core, driving principles at Revolution 2.0, are:
And do it all in love; without love, these are empty gestures, destined to go nowhere and mean nothing.
If we apply those two core principles, personal responsibility and brother’s keepers, simultaneously, never only one or the other, we will always be on the right path. Depending upon what we face, one principle or the other may appropriately be given more emphasis, but they are always acted upon together.
The Founders, Revolution 1.0, were declared traitors by the British Crown, and their lives were forfeit if caught. We risk very little by stepping up and participating in Revolution 2.0™. In fact, we risk our futures if we don’t. I am inviting you, recruiting you, to join Revolution 2.0™ today. Join with me in using what we know how to do–what we know we must do–to everyone’s advantage. Let’s practice thinking well of others as we seek common goals, research the facts that apply to those goals, and use non agenda-based reasoning to achieve those goals together. Practice personal responsibility and be your brother’s keeper.
Let’s continue to build on the revolutionary vision that we inherited. Read the blog, listen to the podcast, subscribe, recruit, act. Here’s what I mean by “acting.”
Revolution 1.0 in 1776 was built by people talking to other people, agreeing and disagreeing, but always finding ways to stay united and going forward. Revolution 2.0 will be built the same way.
Join me. Join the others. Think about what we are talking about and share these thoughts and principles with others. Subscribe, encourage others to subscribe. Act. Let’s grow this together.
And visit the store. Fun stuff, including hats, mugs and t-shirts. Recommend other items that you’d like to see.
Links and References
2016 Election, Rutabaga or Turnip?” (EP. 97)
America’s Unqualified Voters. (EP. 89)
Contact
As we get ready to wrap up, please do respond in the blog with comments or questions about this podcast or anything that comes to mind, or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And you can subscribe to the podcast on your favorite device through Apple Podcasts, Google, or Stitcher.
Now it is time for our usual parting thought. It is not enough to be informed. It is not enough to be a well informed voter. We need to act. And if we, you and I, don’t do something, then the others who are doing something, will continue to run the show.
Know your stuff, then act on it. Knowing your stuff without acting is empty; acting without knowing is dangerous.
Will Luden, writing to you from my home office at 7,200’ in Colorado Springs.
