Is it Time for Eric Holder to Go?

Shortly after being sworn in, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called America a “nation of cowards.”

Within a year, he studiously avoided prosecuting a videoed and documented case of white voter intimidation by the “New Black Panthers.”

Then news surfaced that the Department of Justice was involved in a complex scheme to illegally transport weapons to Mexican drug cartels and trace them that resulted in hundreds of Mexican citizens and an American Border Patrol agent being killed.

The scandal known as “Fast and Furious” has yet to be fully explained. Now evidence has surfaced that the Department of Justice has been involved in illegally monitoring communications of private citizens and members of the press corps.

Combined with the news that the Internal Revenue Service has been criminally harassing, intimidating and invading the privacy of conservative American citizens, the attorney general has not been enforcing the laws of the United States; he has been intentionally breaking them.

It is time for the U.S. Congress to do its constitutionally mandated job. It must investigate the executive branch, document its crimes and impeach and convict those guilty.

America’s freedom and liberty are at stake. If Holder’s actions and crimes are allowed to go unpunished, tyranny will be institutionalized.

I have neither heard nor read anything that I believe would cause me to call for Eric Holder’s resignation.

It is not to be done lightly, and I know of nothing sufficiently compelling for me to be so brash.

I do, however, hope that he departs a bit from the “lawyerliness” that now seems to surround him and to pervade our capitol.

It leads to decisions made on the basis of what “can” be done rather than what “should” be done. It tends to make some people, particularly bright people, act as if they are a bit too big for their britches. Some become overly sure of themselves, contemptuous of others.

Dissenting opinions can be too easily dismissed, warnings unheard, unheeded. Mistakes made.

It’s irresponsible, but it seems that it has become the norm for too many too near the top. Governing is not a parlor game; poor decisions have repercussions. Personal animosities are dangerous; they cloud thought and judgment. Intellectual one-upmanship does not lead to thoughtful, cooperative action.

It’s a matter of manners. Playing “gotcha” is infantile and self-indulgent. It is also self-defeating. If we treat our opposition with graciousness and respect, we may well receive the same. If we do not try, we surely won’t. Let’s give it a chance. Let’s play more nicely in the sandbox.