History Has Its Eyes on You
Surprise – Hamilton AGAIN!! History Has Its Eyes on You
2030: it sounds so far away, too far in the future; it can’t be something we need to plan for now. Yet,it’s only eleven years, damn, my mortgage won’t even be paid off. 2030 has tremendous significance on the politics of today. Yes, we worry about climate change, and 2030 may be too late. We worry about the economic impact of us baby boomers, but as a close millennial friend frequently tells me, most of us “old white guys” will finally have aged out of power (read dead), and the world can finally change.
By 2030 we will have reached a time when history can look back at today, with some distance. That eleven years will guarantee that all of the information about President Trump is out there, everything about foreign loans, Russians in 2016 before the election, in 2017 when investigations began, and in 2018 when secret grand jury testimonies were taken. 2019, this year, is the year of the Mueller Report, and the Cohen testimony, and the seemingly unending manufactured crisis at the border. Eleven years from now, we will know what we can only guess about today.
Don’t think that 2030 isn’t having an impact today. Many of our leaders, grew up in the Watergate era. While the Roger Stone’s of the world would like to re-write history in Nixon’s favor; the rest, Republicans and Democrats, remember the heroes and the villains. And those who look more intensely, beyond Senator Sam Ervin, John Dean, Archibald Cox, and Elliot Richardson; will remember John Mitchell, the Attorney General who went to jail for Watergate crimes, and L Patrick Gray, who resigned as Acting FBI Director after destroying evidence, and sad Hugh Sloan, who saw criminal actions and resigned rather than be drawn in.
History has its eyes on them. On the leaders of today, not just the President, but Secretary Mattis, General Kelly, and Senator Lindsey Graham. History will judge the decisions that Matt Whittaker or Bill Barr make as Attorney General. And history will NOT be kind to those who grabbed power over principle, or who shrunk in fear from a thing called Twitter.
So what if it turns out that the Mueller Investigation; the other Federal investigations in the Eastern District of Virginia, the Southern District of New York, and the Southern District of Florida; the New York Attorney General’s investigation, and all of the soon-to-come hearings in the House of Representatives show that Donald Trump is really as bad as it seems. What if he has millions in loans from the Russians, and he cooperated (read conspired) with them in the election, or maybe even worse, is following their lead now in directing US actions.
In our current era of “fake news” when it’s so easy to discount truth, will the “leaders” of today find ways to ignore reality? Will they decide that the “Trump base” in its minority has too much power, and cower from decisions? Will their fear of being “trolled by Tweet” be so great, that they turn their backs on the truth?
Believe it or not, most politicians did not enter public life with the goal of getting rich, or getting intimidated. They started with a goal to achieve, to solve problems, and with an awareness of their place in history. Most grew up with an education in the “political heroes” of the past, and the dream that someday they would “write their sentence” in the book. How that sentence will read and what it will reveal, is not just a passing thought for our current leaders; they know that they are now going down in history, for good or bad.
I believe that some, ultimately perhaps many, will think of their legacy, of their paragraph in the story, and will choose to be on the right side of history. Early in the morning, before the Senators join up in the Congressional gym for their morning walk, run, or ride; it has to come to mind: “history has its eyes on you.” In 2030, we will know.
