|
I'm just noting how television programming/series have been showing "the Feds" with such "esteem"**. The poor local law enforcement are just incompetent boobs till the federal agents show up and resolve the situation (as if by awesome intelligence/professional skills and a little magic/good luck mixed in).
Not to say that we don't have many fine, top-notch professionals working throughout our Federal agencies (many fewer since the Junior Bush Administration). The thing is, I just wonder at what seems to me to be an attempt to influence the public consciousness to automatically give great respect and perhaps even obedience to authority, specifically "Federal" authority. I believe that even our esteemed federal agencies must both earn and continue to earn respect; one shouldn't just blindly accept authority nor assume that it doesn't behave badly in some cases (power corrupts; oversight, common sense and a willingness to stand up for what is right is required to retain our civil rights--as well as the reputation of our nation).
In this case, the corruption is present and the lack of professional ethics both runs to the highest levels and begins to appear endemic. Such is the legacy of one George W. Bush (affectionately (not!) known as "Shrub"). Our government has lost many good people who either could not tolerate the increased corruption or were actively dismissed with their careers ruined when they tried to act honorably. It will be a long process to remove the corrupt "weeds" from our government--many will never be removed owing to their expertise at covering their asses/covering up the truth (despite having explicitly defiled/broken the appropriate rules/laws). Hopefully we'll have a wise Democratic President who is well enough informed to realize that "cleaning house" is one of the challenges he needs to face. I'd say he should also consider redressing the "Republican Purge" of Democrats (and honest people of all stripes) from all federal agencies; that is, in addition to removing corrupt functionaries, he should consider undoing the partisan disparity in power within, deep within every agency that was unethically implemented by the Bush' Administration's purge.
Meanwhile, yes, we as citizens should give our federal agencies the respect they're due, but we must not be thinking of them as gleaming knights in shining armor, always acting in proper, honest and noble fashion while always able to solve problems like McGyver. We must have transparency in our government's operations (of course, they can still keep some things classified--but even that must be accessible by Congress), and we need to restore our mainstream media's investigative journalism and News gathering "watchdog" activities over (a) our government, (b) corporations and (c) any given "organizations".
The "Press" stands between us and fascism/authoritarianism--and our government (in league with Corporations as well) has indeed been moving in those directions. In this case, they intentionally failed in their responsibilities by supporting the corrupt Bush "Justice" Department (interesting how a few 'bad eggs' at the top can create a culture wherein such corrupt activities can take place). Even now we ought to barrage the News departments of the networks and newspapers with demands for coverage of this coverup; one among many similar items though.
**of course there are exceptions in which the some federalie is corrupt or incompetent; it's just that such is relatively less common, especially in the series type programs.
|