The Scooter Libby Trial and the Need for Accountability in America

I was listening to NPR's Fresh Air the day that Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was indicted on four of five charges brought against him in regards to obstructing justice and perjury in the Valerie Plame leak case. The news announcers spoke of jurors crying, muted victory by the prosecution, and a resigned Libby allowed to visit home until his sentence began. Indeed, even the impartial and experienced news people at NPR seemed to sound a note of finality to the issues brought up in the Plame leak case.

Unfortunately, Libby's indictment is only a superficial victory. It will satisfy the Republicans concerned about the Libby issue and the Bush Administration's air of secrecy in the 2008 elections. It will also satisfy the suddenly conciliatory Democrats, who are quickly mastering the art of presenting symbols, not realities, of progress to the American people. Finally, with the exception of a push by mainstream media announcers like Andrea Mitchell for a pardon, the good people at broadcast and cable news networks seem satisfied. They can move onto the next chapter in their hard-hitting series on Anna Nicole Smith.

Americans should not be, and by most accounts are not, satisfied by this indictment. According to a recent CNN poll, only 18 percent of Americans support the pardon of Lewis "Scooter" Libby. As well, there is a strong breeze of discontent throughout the United States as regards both parties and the free flowing pork projects wafting from the Capitol building. While the "experts" may be satisfied with the Libby indictment, Americans like myself only see it as the tip of the iceberg.

To make my point clear, I want to return to a long distant memory in the media saturated mind of the average American. Household wares magnate Martha Stewart was indicted and imprisoned for perjury in 2004, in a stock trading scandal involving some shares she owned in ImClone Systems. While the details of the case are lost to only those who devote their time to these trivialities, it is important to understand why the Stewart case was a sham. Yes, prosecutors and the jury caught Stewart in a lie. As well, other high powered CEOs have been taken down over the last five years in an effort to demonstrate attentiveness by the justice system. However, what of the minions and lower level workers involved in perpetrating frauds on the American public? Shouldn't they be held accountable for their actions, as ignorance is no defense and intention is as important as action in the eyes of the law?

As such, Americans of all political stripes and backgrounds need to fight voraciously for the execution of justice in government and business. There are a few instances in particular that should be addressed immediately, with a full cleansing of institutions top to bottom by any means necessary:

1. The Walter Reed hospital debacle needs to be handled immediately. Army Surgeon General Kevin Kiley has retired from the military due to pressure from military and civilian sources. This is insufficient and Americans should be bellowing at the top of their lungs for the complete cleansing of this important medical facility. All officers and enlisted personnel involved in the mistreatment of returning soldiers, direct or indirect, while staying at Walter Reed should be discharged without honor. The public expects great treatment for our veterans, particularly due to the fantastical cost in human livelihood and money accrued during the War on Terror.

2. The continued failure of recovery operations in the Louisiana-Mississippi area, even after the public has moved their interests elsewhere, needs to be remedied. Families are still without stable homes, jobs, or a livelihood to protect from the next storm. The entire bureaucracy of FEMA and any other governmental agency actively involved in Hurricane Katrina cleanup should be cleansed of the memories of this horrific incident. Communities throughout the United States could befall natural incidents and the reaction to the hurricane indicates that the public should not trust its government. The only cleaning agent capable of revamping FEMA is in need of its own cleansing.

3. The Congress is a failure in the hands of both Republicans and Democrats. The aforementioned disasters in American policy can only be remedied by a vigorous, lively body that is committed to reform and debate. Instead, we move from Dennis Hastert and Bill Frist slicing up pork in the halls of power to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid putting up the curtain of reform to hide the true Wizard of Oz, a cowardly opposition party trying to rule without stepping on too many people's toes. It is time for solutions and Americans cannot solve these massive problems from their couches or their offices. They need representatives that actually give a damn about representing their people in a visionary, not a reactionary way.

We have lost our sense of moral outrage for things that are important. The last generation of leaders, forged politically from the suspicions of the Watergate scandal, knew what it was like to mistrust their government. How did this go away so suddenly? A kindly old actor turned politician, with a few nice platitudes and a skyrocketing deficit, lulled us into believing that all would be alright. Since then, we have gotten outraged at a former football player's ridiculous trial and the fact that our president may have been a philanderer on a number of occasions. The Scooter Libby trial proves that all is not well in the American political system. The public settles for rhetoric and symbols instead of real solutions because that is all they have been fed over the last 25 years. The gauntlet has been thrown down, as Scooter Libby's indictment has been foisted as a panacea to all of our problems. Is this what public discourse has come to?

The answer is yes with a big, hefty but. While it has always been this way, it seems that the spread of technology and news means that the proverbial wool over our eyes is thicker and wider. The solution is simple: Americans need to use the tools of obfuscation as tools of transparency against those who are committing heinous acts. Virtual representative bodies, forums, and organizations are a great first step toward bringing reform to the real halls of justice. The most important issue here is to get a dialogue going, since the ability of most Americans to debate has been hamstrung by a society that devalues thoughtfulness in favor of bold action. As well, workers need to insist upon the ability to unionize and pursue legal methods of attacking corporate malfeasance.

Thereafter, everyone from college students to retirees should seek office. Most local positions are unopposed and city councils, utility boards, and other bodies in American communities are places where people feel the greatest effect from government. By taking back the power of government at all levels, the public can turn their representative bodies into something resembling the average community in the United States instead of your average country club. Perhaps Scooter Libby, Robert Novak, and others did us a favor by emboldening Americans for change. We just need to take the first step, which is to take change of our own volition instead of the false outrage manufactured by politicians and corporate leaders.