McDowell Memo: Let's talk about investigations and hearings

McDowell Memo: Let's talk about investigations and hearings

For the last 30 years we have as a government had a series of investigations and Congressional hearings that have had no real reason for occurring other than Political points scored. This has been committed on the American People by both parties and for the most part not produced any valid charges. The Media on the other hand have stirred this activity to increase ad sales and this should have been the crime investigated. 

As we progressed through the 70' s and forward we watched an erosion in the name of aggressive investigation and reporting of civil rights with no out cry from the left and certainly no legitimate effort by government to limit this activity. From Watergate forward elements with in the county and media outlets have constantly began investigating rumors and pipedreams about every one. Not that there were not scandals that were not investigated such as Chappaquiddick , gun trafficking by the Obama white house. Both of these were legitimate crimes that were under reported and investigated till years later by the Press.

What rights have we lost as citizens , first was the strength of the equal time  regulation of the FCC at one time when one pollical party would put out a slam the other party had the right to  demand equal time to rebut the comments. The FCC also had strength in those days to shutdown stations that were not fair minded. We also lost the Attorney Client Privilege , we have seen attorneys records and the attorneys themselves summoned before congress to relate what a client had related to them and conversation records of the attorney and client. This is not only unconstitutional but grossly unfair to the defendant. These type of abuses are rampant these days and you the people have said through elections that we need to remove some of these oversteps and return to the law and not regulations because the law does not have the ability for changes at the whim of a bureaucrat where regulations are implemented with out the people having a say in what should be   in the regulations.

How do we fix this ?

•  Implement a requirement that all Bills must have an impact statement which outlines the long term costs and changes that the bill will create prior to any committee hearing or vote of any kind. 
• Require a Federal Judge to approve any congressional hearing that contains the potential for criminal charges prior to issuance of any congressional subpoenas . The Judge will determine if the reason for the investigation is credible and fairly constructed.
• Congress must pass a law that all investigations commenced by Congress be considered classified until the report of the committee is released and that violating this and leaking information is a felony punishable by a 20 year sentence. 
• Presidents, congress and all heads of federal departments at the cabinet level must place all financial holdings and control in the hands of an independent financial manager in a blind trust. Also, the living costs of each position to be determined by Congress . This will reduce both abuse and temptation of abuse of the office. 
• Term Limits must be implemented for all governmental elected positions from local to state to congress. Congress and the President must treat the Constitution as a sacred instrument and not changed due to interpretation and conjecture as to what the founders thought at that time. 
• Finally , We the people must not allow our opinions and decisions to be based on media and try not to opine on issues until all the facts are known. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  \