Disqualified

The book Vigilance: The Price of Liberty was launched by the thought that “Government has become too large to sustain and too opaque to be accountable, which diminishes its ability to do the public good.”  As government has grown in size and complexity, politicians have become comfortable to conceal their actions from the public and, therefore, become less and less accountable.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a recent press conference claimed that it was convenience that lead her to establish an email server separate and apart from the government to conduct all her official business when Secretary of State.  We are asked to believe that the inconvenience of carrying two cell phones was more than she could bear.  We are asked to believe that establishing a separate server and infrastructure of an email account was easier to create than simply adding another email address to her smart phone.  We are asked to ignore and disregard an earlier interview where she professed to routinely carrying two phones.

The issue here is not convenience but concealment.  The answer – and the only answer – Mrs. Clinton established a separate email server is to conceal from the public those activities she did not want to be held into account.  Imagine if you set-up a separate email account to conduct all your communications at work how that would go over – it would not.  You use your private email to conduct private activities, like looking for a new job.

Even if we disregard concealment as an anathema to public service and accept Mrs. Clinton at her word that her action was done for the purpose of convenience, then she must be disqualified from service by the mere fact that she does not understand the fundamentals of a Democratic Republic.  This form of government requires time and deliberation.  It is difficult, inefficient and – inconvenient. 

If a politician is actively concealing or is under the impression that business done as a public official can be hidden for convenience-sake, then that politician is disqualified and not fit for public office.

Convenience in public office by any other name is concealment.