I Googled if it is legal for the US Government to spy on its own people. The general consensus was that it was illegal. Most of the articles I read were about the Government spying on anti-government groups and militias. So if it illegal to spy on the people that would bring down our democracy I would think that it is illegal to spy on people let’s say like Congressmen and Senators.

Now it has come to light that the Department of Justice under the direction of Bill Barr subpoenaed Apple for the phone records of Congressman Schiff and his family including a minor. Barr then went before Congress and lied about it. How can you trust the Department of Justice if they lie to Congress? Accountability to the truth has to start at the top no matter the political fallout. I would think that the integrity of the Department of Justice and the law would be more important than being the Attorney General. Barr could have said “no” to Trump. He could have resigned or he could have made Trump fire him. Because he did neither I can only assume that he believed in what he was doing and he didn’t care if he broke the law and the trust of the people.

I have a couple of problems with this. The first being with Apple.  Apple had to have known that this was not legal. They could have blown the top off the whole thing by going public and exposing it. I would think that is what a responsible Corporate Citizen should have done. Trump always railed on the Big Tech Companies and here is one that is giving up their customer’s privacy to the Department of Justice. What does that mean about you and me? If they do not care about a Congressman’s rights and privacy they surely will not care about ours. We are all so dependent on our technology that if is being used to spy on us that is not only a bad thing but it is also scary thing. Talking about big brother watching.

My other problem with this is with the Department of Justice itself. This is the group that is in charge of upholding the integrity our democracy and upholding the law. Without law you have no democracy. This should be the same no matter which party is in office. I hate to say this but after 5 months of the Biden administration I am not seeing a lot of accountability from the Department of Justice. If I violate the law I get arrested. The only people that I see getting arrested are the dupes that were recruited and fell for all the lies of the past administration. A lot of damage was done by the past administration as to our trust of the Department of Justice. I for one would love to see some movement on restoring that trust by going after the people that destroyed our trust in the first place. The law should not just apply to the little people. It should apply to all including the President and former Presidents. Accountability has to start at the top not at the bottom. Truman said “the buck stops here”. That is not the case anymore. Now all the people in government want to be like Teflon and have nothing stick to them.

What has changed government? Money. The rich thinks that since they have the money they should have the power. The fact that our voting rights are in jeopardy is more about their money and their power that the political party that they own. Al Capone used to own politicians and judges in Chicago. The same is true today. When you vote you are not just voting for the individual or the party but also the rich billionaire that is pulling the strings. Those billionaires may not all be American billionaires. There is a lot of foreign money pouring into our elections and our elected officials. Yes, I do believe that some of our elected officials are owned by foreign billionaires. I know that may sound very paranoid but there you have it. Prove me wrong. Prove me wrong that Putin and people like him do not pour millions into our political system. Is this the mess that the Supreme Court started with Citizens United? Smarter people than me need to answer that question.

Our political and judicial systems are a mess. The 2022 election may be just the most important election in the history of our democracy. The election may actually be an election for the Constitution and democracy or for the downfall of the Constitution and our democracy.  I could be wrong. I hope I am.