(LifeSiteNews) — Recent news on former President Donald Trump being indicted for reportedly attempting to interfere with the 2020 election and the FBI going after Catholics brings to mind some things that should be considered about voting, the FBI, and all other Federal and local secret investigators or law enforcement.
First, it should be mentioned that the FBI is part of the executive branch of the federal government. The president of the United States, of course, is supposed to be in control of the executive branch.
And through voting, Americans are supposed to be in control of determining who is elected to be the controller of the executive branch, that is, the president of the United States. This implies that Americans are supposed to be, at least indirectly, in control of how the FBI and other executive branch law enforcement, intelligence, investigative, and similar entities operate.
Similarly, at the state and local level, attorneys general and prosecutors are elected by citizens of most states and many localities. Some might not realize the significance of those lawyers and other district attorneys; they are considered to be chief law enforcement officers in their locations. Oftentimes people think of “law enforcement” merely as uniformed police. But there are several lawyers and other non-uniformed employees that might be considered to be more powerful than uniformed police.
Now, with the news that the FBI was, and possibly still is, going after Catholics, another significant fact to think about is that the FBI, local police, investigators, attorneys general, intelligence community, and other local and federal security entities keep confidential or secret how they operate. Their methods, sources, technologies, strategies, and many other actions are kept secret and hidden from Americans. (One might suggest the reason for this is because if their methods, technologies, sources, and techniques were publicized, Americans would oppose them and potentially even seek criminal charges against those entities for the harm they have caused others.)
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It is going to be elaborated in a moment, but think about it: how can Americans vote on the head of the executive branch of government, the president of the United States, if Americans do not know how the FBI (a part of the president’s executive branch of government) currently operates and plans on operating in the future? How can Americans vote for a county prosecutor or state attorney general if the methods, sources, technologies, techniques, and operations of police, investigators, and others are kept secret?
Those facts should bring to mind a few interesting things to think about regarding voting and elections in the United States. Thus, one should think somewhat critically about what it means to “vote” in a United States presidential or other election.
One could spend many words defining the term “vote”; however, for this article, the main thing to focus on is voting being an individual’s un-coerced decision, a voluntary decision.
To make a “decision” that is freely chosen, one must have some information. This is a significant point which requires emphasis: information has to be provided by other people for a person to make some decisions. An example of this is described in the following health care concept of “informed consent”:
Informed consent is the process in which a health care provider educates a patient about the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a given procedure or intervention. The patient must be competent to make a voluntary decision about whether to undergo the procedure or intervention. Informed consent is both an ethical and legal obligation of medical practitioners in the U.S. and originates from the patient’s right to direct what happens to their body. Implicit in providing informed consent is an assessment of the patient’s understanding, rendering an actual recommendation, and documentation of the process.
The main point to take from the concept of “informed consent” is that to make a decision about health care, there is prerequisite or necessary information that one must have. Health care professionals are required by laws and regulations to provide such information; otherwise, it is implied that the patient cannot make a “free decision” or the decision to consent to a medication, procedure, operation, etc. It is common to describe some healthcare decisions as “elective,” or a procedure or treatment chosen by the patient rather than urgently necessary.
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Now, apply the concept of informed consent to U.S. federal, state, and local elections (ignoring the obvious differences). Is there information that should be required by law and regulation to be publicized, rather than to be kept secret, so that Americans can freely choose which candidate to vote for? Again, much could be written on this subject, but only a few points are going to be mentioned.
The U.S. Constitution is relevant here. An introduction to the Constitution provided by the U.S. Senate is as follows:
Written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, the United States Constitution is the world’s longest surviving written charter of government. Its first three words – ‘We The People’ – affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. The supremacy of the people through their elected representatives is recognized in Article I, which creates a Congress consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The positioning of Congress at the beginning of the Constitution affirms its status as the ‘First Branch’ of the federal government.
“The government of the United States exists to serve its citizens” and this is partially or fully achieved “through the elected representatives.”
Now, what are some of the most common actions, entities, or operations of the U.S. federal, state, and local governments? Law enforcement, local and federal policing, national security, investigating (often secret investigating), and the so-called intelligence community make up a significant portion of government operations.
Think about this for a moment: if U.S. citizens are supposed to vote on how the government operates (through their elected representatives, president, etc.), and if law enforcement, police, investigative, intelligence, and other national, state, or local security entities are significant portions of government operations, should specific provision of information be required by law to vote on how those entities operate?
Refer again to the concept of “informed consent.” A person cannot make a health care decision about an operation without knowing specifics about the operation. Health care professionals can get into serious trouble, sometimes described as “defrauding” if they do not inform the patient of specifics of the operation.
Now, what about voting? To decide on how law enforcement, police, the FBI, investigative, intelligence, and other similar entities operate, information on the methods, technologies, surveillance, techniques, and sources of those entities is necessarily required to make the voting decision.
And if such prerequisite information is not provided to every American voter by law enforcement, police, investigative, intelligence, and other national security entities, could they be said to be “interfering with an election” or obstructing a proceeding insofar as elections include voting and voting is a decision on whether to maintain current government operating methods, techniques, technologies, etc., or operate differently after elections?
Former President Trump was apparently indicted on the charges of “conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.”
The “right to vote” implies the right to have specific information to make the voting decision. If government officials, employees, bureaus, and departments do not provide such information, could they be said to be conspiring against Americans’ rights or obstructing an official proceeding?
Should the FBI, law enforcement, police, investigative, intelligence, security, and similar entities be prohibited from secrecy and be required to publish for every American, or every American voter, all information on their methods, technologies, sources, and techniques so that Americans can have the “freedom to choose” how the previous entities operate?