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Dear Has been,

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You did not provide any details of what you were alluding to when you wrote your comments, but I guess it was just out of plain decency :

• “all the rubbish they [the Democrats] have dreamed up”,
• “quite [a] few senior Democrats have a lot of dark matter in their closet”,
• “they have realised a bit belatedly that their closets could be torn open by the Republicans in a Senate hearing”.

It all sounds pretty subtle and mysterious to me, but I’m sure you must be on to something. Whatever it is, it must be fairly serious I suppose – otherwise, I’m sure you wouldn’t have even mentioned it. No doubt there’s probably a lot of truth in it too. As they say, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” !

As a matter of fact, I’m willing to believe that it’s not just the Democrats but every single political party – without exception – that has skeletons bulging out of its closets. There’s probably not one single party that can honestly claim to be more virtuous than any of the others.

Nor is it just the individual politicians who are the source of the problem. It’s the political system of representative democracy that fosters and facilitates corruption in all its forms – to such an extent that the whole system has become seriously gangrened. As we have seen in the US, it has now reached the stage where representative democracy needs to be amputated and implanted with a finely measured dose of direct democracy, if it is to survive.

It’s not just a question of “draining the swamp” (as Runner likes to say), I think we need to regenerate “the swamp” completely with some good, fresh, wholesome spring water.

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Dear Shadow Minister,

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Thanks for your résumé, but you seem to have attributed most of your own ideas and opinions to me.

I note with satisfaction that we agree on most of the basic facts but I’m afraid we often do not interpret them in the same manner nor draw the same conclusions.

Judging from our exchanges on this thread, I think it is true to say that your interpretation of the facts generally tends to favour Trump and the Republicans.

Also, I have noticed that you remain silent on facts that can only be considered unfavourable to your own particular line of thought.

I personally have no political allegiances nor preconceptions of an ideological nature and do my best to keep my beliefs to a strict minimum as they tend to cloud my vision.

My vision of the Trump impeachment process is necessarily very limited but I can’t say it resembles yours – or should I say, the vision you attribute to me.

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Banjo,

Judging from our exchanges on this thread, I think it is true to say that your interpretation of the facts undeniably favours the democrats. I have also noticed that you remain silent on facts unfavourable to your own particular line of thought.

That you claim to have no political allegiances is farcical.

I personally have no love for Trump and consider him to be somewhat unscrupulous and driven primarily by self interest and while personally a conservative have trouble with much of the republican agenda.

However, while not a lawyer, I have had enough legal training to sniff out a stitch up and this impeachment stinks. If these articles of impeachment were submitted to a court of law by a prosecutor, not only would the case likely be summarily dismissed, but the prosecutor would likely face disbarment.

Having abandoned any pretense of impartiality the democrats have abandoned the moral high ground and have shown them to be even more perfidious than Trump.

People are entitled to any opinion about Trump. What is 100% clear is the democrats hate truth and facts. Their hatred of such a successful man has left them with egg splattered all over their faces. From day 1 they have tried to invent, make up lies and find a way by any devious means to get rid of him. The more they have tried the more they have exposed their hatred of truth, facts and decency.

Many Trump haters here in Australia can't even tell you why they hate him but they do. I suppose haters will continue to be haters and if its not directed at Trump it will be the next one to expose the slimy swamp.

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Dear Shadow Minister

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You wrote :

« That you claim to have no political allegiances is farcical »
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I’m sorry if I have given you that impression.

Please be assured that if Trump and the Senate majority had been Democrats, Libertarians, Greens or anything else, my comments would have been the same. I have no à priori judgment for or against the various actors and political parties caught up in this political drama.

I do my best to follow events as closely as I can and evaluate the evidence as it becomes public as rationally and as impartially as possible – being careful, naturally, to cross-check the information, interpretations and opinions via contradictory media sources.

Though Trump is a fascinating personality, who by no means leaves me indifferent, to be quite frank, I am more interested in the pros and cons of representative democracy as a political regime than in the apparent impulsive character of Trump and his political philosophy.

There is, for example, an obviously incoherence in a political regime that allows a president to withhold documentary evidence and prevent key witnesses from testifying at a House of Representative’s Inquiry on his own possible impeachment. And it is a flawed democracy that reduces the judicial role of Congress to pronouncing decisions that are forgone conclusions because of partisan voting.

That hardly qualifies as an equitable system of Justice in a democratic political regime.

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Dear Runner,

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Welcome to the discussion, though I think I have just about exhausted my ideas on the subject of the “Democrats impeachment dilemma” proposed by Shadow Minister.

Thank you for that brief dissertation on “hate”. It is quite enlightening – particularly as regard your own personality and “weltanschauung”, if you don’t mind my saying so.

Dare I suggest that you might like to do one on “love” just to balance it off – seen from the Republicans’ point of view, of course (to make it easier). I imagine they are the living image of “truth, facts and decency” to which we all aspire, n’est-ce pas ?

As a matter of fact, some of us actually practise it – on a daily basis, believe it or not !

By the way, Runner, you may, perhaps have already noticed that I am a fervent reader of your brief (though frequent) missives her on OLO and am a great admirer of your consistency and tenacity.

Also, allow me to take this opportunity to confirm that I, personally, have never seen a single Republican “with egg splattered all over his or her face” – and you’re absolutely spot on when you say they’re great at “exposing the slimy swamp” – almost as good as frogs !

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