I really care about the Hatch Act, do you? [View all]

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I read where Trump's Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows - the man who had twice said publicly that Pres. Obama should "go back to Kenya" - defended SoS Pompeo's use of taxpayer funded travel, security, and other amenities to broadcast an unprecedented partisan, political message to the republican convention, clearly illegal under the Hatch Act, by claiming "Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares" about the law.

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I do care, in most part, because these are MY tax dollars, and your tax dollars, being used to reelect an incumbent president. Trump's decision to run the republican convention from the People's House isn't just a violation of an arcane law, it's usurping our democracy at the moment where our participation is a primary underpinning of the process; one aspect that we're ostensibly able to independently control.

There's reason consent isn't automatically given at tax time to dip into our pockets to support elections. Participation is the essence of democracy, but without free will associated with our contributions, it's nothing more than election fraud and theft. Trump is treating American voters like we're paying guests to his unreality show; leveling a garden to provide a convention prop for Melania to praise her husband; active-duty military present as Trump performs official duties in a cynical naturalization ceremony...

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This open abuse of the law is yet another attempt by Trump at normalizing his deviancy and criminality, but it's also another massive grift designed to allow the host of the show to walk away with the ultimate prize. The media is tailor-made for this cynical coercion, with hardly a word or acknowledgement from most of these television productions that their slick presentations and impressive backgrounds are actually footage of a crime in operation; an open fleecing of Americans who are the true owners of those historical premises and grounds.

Some media folks are cleaning up with their own justifications for why they don't bother to call out clear violations of law; aside from the fact their coverage benefits them financially. Apparently, for some, you can break the law if 'no one cares.' Consider this:

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Do you 'give a hoot?' I sure do.

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