The
release of the House Intelligence Committee’s memo on the FBI’s abuse of the
FISA process set off a partisan firestorm. The Democrats warned us beforehand
that declassifying the memo would be the end the world as we know it. It was
reckless to allow Americans to see this classified material, they said. Agents
in the field could be harmed, sources and methods would be compromised, they
claimed.
Republicans
who had seen the memo claimed that it was far worse than Watergate. They said
that mass firings would begin immediately after it became public. They said
that the criminality of US government agencies exposed by the memo would shock
Americans.
Then
it was released and the world did not end. FBI agents have thus far not been
fired. Seeing “classified” material did not terrify us, but rather it
demonstrated clearly that information is kept from us by claiming it is
“classified.”
In
the end, both sides got it wrong. Here’s what the memo really shows us:
First,
the memo demonstrates that there is a “deep state” that does not want things
like elections to threaten its existence. Candidate Trump’s repeated promises
to get along with Russia and to re-assess NATO so many years after the end of
the Cold War were threatening to a Washington that depends on creating enemies
to sustain the fear needed to justify a trillion dollar yearly military budget.
Imagine
if candidate Trump had kept his campaign promises when he became President.
Without the “Russia threat” and without the “China threat” and without the need
to dump billions into NATO, we might actually have reaped a “peace dividend”
more than a quarter-century after the end of the Cold War. That would have
starved the war-promoting military-industrial complex and its network of
pro-war “think tanks” that populate the Washington Beltway area.
Second,
the memo shows us that neither Republicans nor Democrats really care that much
about surveillance abuse when average Americans are the victims. It is clear
that the FISA abuse detailed in the memo was well known to Republicans like
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes before the memo was actually
released. It was likely also well known by Democrats in the House. But both
parties suppressed this evidence of FBI abuse of the FISA process until after
the FISA Amendments Act could be re-authorized. They didn’t want Americans to
know how corrupt the surveillance system really is and how the US has become
far too much like East Germany. That might cause more Americans to call up
their Representatives and demand that the FISA mass surveillance amendment be
allowed to sunset.
Ironically, Chairman Nunes
was the biggest cheerleader for the extension of the FISA Amendments even as he
knew how terribly the FISA process had been abused!
Finally,
hawks on both sides of the aisle in Congress used “Russia-gate” as an excuse to
build animosity toward Russia among average Americans. They knew from the
classified information that there was no basis for their claims that the Trump
Administration was put into office with Moscow’s assistance, but they played along
because it served their real goal of keeping the US on war footing and keeping
the gravy train rolling.
But
don’t worry: the neocons in both parties will soon find another excuse to keep
us terrified and ready to flush away a trillion dollars a year on military
spending and continue our arguments and new “Cold War” with Russia.
In
the meantime, be skeptical of both parties. With few exceptions they are not
protecting liberty but promoting its opposite.
Dr. Ron
Paul is a former member of Congress and Distinguished Counselor to the Mises
Institute.
Copyright © 2018 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in
whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are
given.
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