Comey In The Middle

This week President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey made the headlines. And continues to make the headlines days after the occurrence. Must be a slow news week.

Now, whether or not Trump did the right thing by firing Comey, we probably won’t know for some time because we simply do not have all the facts. However, we do know 2 things for sure. 1) President Trump was completely within his Constitutional authority to fire Comey. And 2) very few individuals in politics these days have any principles whatsoever.

According to some reports, Comey has a reputation for being a non-partisan individual and is (was?) well respected in the community.Prior to the Clinton email investigation, very few people even knew who the Director of the FBI was. Comey’s entrance into the spotlight was sudden and noticeable. And from then on, nobody knew whether love him or hate him.

During the 2016 election, anytime Comey’s actions could be taken in a negative way toward Hillary Clinton, Republicans cheered his ineffable courage and integrity while Democrats jeered his partisan, sexist cowardice. When the tables turned however, and something Comey did could be taken in a positive way toward Hillary Clinton, Democrats praised this noble pillar of justice while Republicans condemned his spinelessness.

And now, after the news of Comey’s firing, we see this same ridiculous circus playing out once again. Except this time Republicans and Democrats are a little confused as to whether they’re supposed to cry or cheer.

The “comedian” (and I mean that in the loosest sense of the word) Stephen Colbert recently ran into this problem when his audience cheered wildly at the news of Comey’s firing. Apparently someone got the “applause” audience cue card mixed up with the “booing” cue card.

Many leaders in the Democrat party, having previously called for Comey’s firing, resignation, or saying that they’d completely lost confidence in him, apparently bumped their head and forgot about that when they subsequently expressed outrage and shock at Comey’s firing.

Trump himself has fallen prey to this uncertainty, vacillating back and forth between praise and censure of Comey.

It’s like a game of “Three Card Monte” and politicians on both sides of the aisle have hopelessly lost sight of where their card is. But this is to be expected when you attempt to operate in the absence of principles.

History may eventually show us that Comey was just an unfortunate man just trying to do his job caught in the middle of a battle between the supporters of Clinton vs. the supporters of Trump. Regardless, these circumstances have once again made painfully clear the ridiculous hypocrisy that results from an unprincipled approach to politics.

If this bothers you at all, then you’ve taken the first step - identify the problem. Now to solve that problem, each of us needs to do some searching, to find what are our principles? What is our Source of Truth? Once we’ve identified our principles, we have a duty to stand by them while we can honestly defend them.

Forget party lines, forget this side versus that side. Protecting the God-given rights of each citizen, in other words, “general welfare” should be the goal.

Alexander Hamilton said, “We are attempting, by this Constitution, to abolish factions, and to unite all parties for the general welfare.”

It’s a lofty goal, but one well worth attempting.

Jonathan Paine

Follow on Twitter: @painefultruth76

Let us know what you think: painefultruth1776@gmail.com

James Madison: “Hearken not to the unnatural voice which tells you that the people of America, knit together as they are by so many cords of affection, can no longer live together as members of the same family; can no longer continue the mutual guardians of their mutual happiness…. No, my countrymen, shut your ears against this unhallowed language. Shut your hearts against the poison which it conveys; the kindred blood which flows in the veins of American citizens, the mingled blood which they have shed in defense of their sacred rights, consecrate their Union, and excite horror at the idea of their becoming aliens, rivals, enemies.”