Tom’s Tidbits

Tom’s Tidbits- YOU know when investigations should start. And when they should stop.

Greetings,

The effort to impeach Joe Biden seems to be ending not with a bang but an embarrassing whimper, and for all the wrong reasons. Investigators found nothing to support their allegations, much less demand impeachment, but they aren’t saying “we’ve investigated in good faith but we were just wrong”. No, they’re saying they don’t have the votes to impeach. Not facts, not truth. Our Politics.

Impeachment is a political rather than scientific or legal procedure but many of the same principles apply in any legitimate investigation. Don’t start without reason. Limit the inquiry to logical possibilities. Pursue without fear, favor, bias, or pre-conceived solutions. Conclude as soon as reasonably possible. Report findings clearly and fairly. After that, it’s up to others to act.

Investigations can reveal a lot about their subjects, but they can say just as much about the motives and competence of the investigators.

Imagine three vehicles in our shop. The first has an intermittent rattle while the second is making a loud grinding as flames shoot from under the hood. The third was just serviced and we know it’s in great shape. As they sit side-by-side we might not know the problems in the first two vehicles, but we know there’s reason to investigate. Warning bells should go off if we pushed to examine the flawless car! Why would we investigate with no evidence of a problem? What would we hope to gain? Investigating AGAINST evidence, by itself, is an indictment of the investigator. Rightly so, no matter the context. Our Politics.

Where there IS evidence investigations might be proper. Some can be pretty simple. In our car-on-fire example the evidence is clear and compelling, so investigation is obviously needed but should be quick and definitive. “Your widget is on fire”, we’ll say, “so you need a new one”. But if you decide NOT to replace it or ask us to look for something OTHER than the widget, we’ll wonder about YOUR sanity! Again, rightly so. Investigations can find answers, but it’s not the investigators’ fault if no action is taken.

For the car with the mild rattle there’s wiggle room in both the inquiry and response. It may be nothing or it may be evidence of a lurking safety problem, so it’s up to you and your personal priorities (with a little guidance from us!) to investigate or not. Suppose you’re worried the rattle is from your brakes, so you ask us to dig in. They look fine through the wheels and the loose change we found in your ash tray would account for the noise. We’re satisfied we’ve found the problem, but we could still be wrong… let’s imagine you want us to keep looking. We pull the wheels off but your brakes still look fine, and the rattling has gone away without the coins. If you asked us to go back in and keep looking for brake problems we might think you had some other motives! Or look at it from the other side… suppose you heard a rattle, removed some loose change, and the sound went away. Would you trust us if we recommended checking your brakes, transmission, and windshield wipers “just in case”? No. Not to continue a search for rattles.

There’s room for the ‘eye of the beholder’ in any accusation investigations shouldn’t be entered into lightly. They shouldn’t be smears, shouldn’t be endless, shouldn’t be bludgeons. Those who hold the awesome power of government shouldn’t abuse it, and they should be held responsible when they do. Look around our country and our world at the thousands of questions… the many travails of POTUS, the classified docs cases of Trump, Biden, and Pence, the business dealings of Jarred and Hunter, the vote peddling in SCOTUS, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the corruption of government at every level, and so much more. Gosh, who’s to decide what’s legitimate inquiry and what’s not?

I AM. WE ARE. YOU ARE. An investigation without evidence is wrong. An investigation that continues after the questions are answered is wrong. An investigation with answers and no action is wrong. Look at the allegations, yes, but also the investigators, investigation, results, and reactions. Look at the big picture, and don’t be fooled… most of us are alert enough to spot illegitimate inquiries when they happen. And when they don’t.

Make a great day,