Congressional Misconduct & Abuses of Power

I am personally affected as a woman, as a millennial, as someone who’s entire life has the potential to be permanently adversely affected by the blatant attacks on the Constitution, on the rights & processes it affords me as well as the rest of this country- or it did, until several members of GOP leadership decided , in the public words of Mitch McConnell regarding Merritt Garland “I don’t care about the Constitution.” This was not the 1st time the GOP decided to eschew rules, laws, norms, civility or the best interest of America in favor of personal and partisan political interests, but it was a huge step in what at present, is a brazen and shameless attack on American democracy. Mitch McConnell isn’t a lone actor- he’s got enablers in all 3 branches of govt as well as in the private sector. But he’s the Senate Majority leader & I’m not alone in the knowledge that he has taken what should be one of the most important, esteemed positions in all of the legislative branch and he has blatantly abused the position for personally conflicted political interests, from campaign finance reform, voting to remove sanctions on one of the biggest actors in Russian election interference- oligarch Oleg Deripaska , the destructive Kavanaugh hearings, the government shutdown that not only brought half a million Americans to financial and professional crises- but was the last thing this country needed as a means of alienating federal employees who worked for the most important parts of this country’ National security roles, possibly creating countless new recruitment opportunities for Russian & other hostile states looking to turn Americans into new Michael Flynn individuals. He and Lindsey Graham have tried and succeeded in destroying critical procedural processes in the appointment of countless judges to the highest courts, as well as mitigating the number of votes to pass bills so that we now have a rogue group of Senators that have decided to partner with the worst president and Russian asset Donald Trump to prevent the House from exercising their rightful checks and balances. Mitch McConnell has at the same time, worked actively to obstruct the restoration of The Voting Rights Act, he’s entirely happy to allow Trump & his administration to sell nuclear power to Saudi Arabia, remain in violation of The Magnitsky Act, have personal conversations with Vladimir Putin, while as a ranking member of Senate committees he was also enabling the obstruction of justice, an illegal release of classified information and manufacturing propaganda in the form of the Nunes memo. Representatives in the House and Senate can be sued as individuals in certain circumstances, Devin Nunes in fact was already sued for his illegal release of classified information. Mitch McConnell has blatantly violated ethics, he’s lied to the American people & OpenSecrets as well as other sources indicate Mitch McConnell has received contributions from Russian companies & entities , and only since then did he begin to use his office to represent Oleg Deripaska & “mismanage” & abuse his investigatory roles on matters of national security. Unfortunately, the processes of simply electing someone in his place, although there’s presently 2 possible candidates who plan to run against him, isn’t going to undo the countless assaults on democracy committed directly by Mitch McConnell, or the countless assaults levied by other Republicans that he’s both enabled directly & the unethical, immoral, bigoted, and dishonest actions that his own behavior has provided “inspiration” or ugly precedent for. Factually, I am referring to actions in the latter category were taken only AFTER McConnell’s unprecedented and despicable Machiavellian misuse & abuse of his office. I believe this is partly because he’s not just any fellow Republican but he’s the leader of the Senate. This is an insuperable stream of power, of influence on our climate, on women’s health, on healthcare, on the release of the Mueller report and related critical matters of transparency, and the public interest and national security. The damage to Constitutional matters of checks and balances, on the passage of ALL LAWS, appointment of judges, confirmation of presidential appointees, as well as his obvious contemptuous participation in the shutdown after the most historic win by Democrats in 2018. This is just on a federal level, just one election, but it should be viewed as a despicable dirty trick to hinder the will of the people and the consent of the governed. McConnell doesn’t give a hoot about the welfare of our democracy, he’s made public statements saying so. He doesn’t see the consent of the governed as anything he is bound by- and his interests are to pretend climate change, Russian interference, the rule of law, sexual assault & harassment, a woman’s right to choose both matters of consensual sex as well as reproductive choice, gender issues, economic, racial and ethnic inequalities as his job. He is not interested in permitting the Senate to operate in the way the Constitution or its Framers intended. I also believe that Lindsey Graham and Devin Nunes are in a comparable category of Republican representatives that have spent their time (at least in the last 4 years in the business of behaving as “rogue agents” not representing their constituents- and whether or not some of their constituents on any given day approve of Donald Trump is no excuse for actions of a Senator or Congressman. These are people who have made a daily practice of intimidating and battering witnesses testifying in public and ostensibly closed door hearings, threatening and defaming the most ethical and esteemed public officials in the country like Robert Mueller, Andrew McCabe, Andrew Weissman, and countless other reputable investigators simply because their demented and ethically impotent personality cult leader Donald Trump is angry that in America the matters of accountability for one’s actions is a cr...