There’s a strange tradition in American politics. When an egregious abuse of power, or violation of public trust, or outright corruption is “uncovered”- the country is mostly outraged, because it is outrageous!

And then… we move on.

In the 1980s, the Iran-Contra Affair exposed illegal schemes to fund secret arms deals. Eleven guilty verdicts or pleas followed – BUT appeal rulings and presidential pardons meant that very few senior officials faced legal consequences. One man spent time in jail. We moved on.

In 2003, we were told that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction as a preface for War. This was a lie. Thousands of Americans lost their lives. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives. No high-ranking US official was ever criminally convicted for making false claims, we just moved on.

The Financial Crisis of 2008 wiped out homes, jobs and savings. An Inquiry Commission concluded that the crisis was avoidable and resulted from failures in regulation, corporate governance, risk management, and lending practices. Thousands of lower-level mortgage-fraud offenders were prosecuted, but no executives at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America or JPMorgan Chase were criminally convicted for causing the crisis. Nope. They did pay billions in civil settlements, but nothing they couldn’t handle. The country moved on.

The January 6 attack on the US Capitol resulted in the convictions of over 1500 people – for crimes that included obstruction, assault, and insurrection, but every one of them has been pardoned. No high ranking US government official has ever been held accountable for their involvement in the Capitol Attack.

And don’t get me started on the current shameless corruption in our government. Myriad violations of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause pale in comparison. But whatever, right?

When there is no accountability – then, well, it’s rehearsal. When there are no consequences, it’s an invitation to do it again. Every time we “move on” we show the next official exactly how far they can go. And here’s the political reality:

The country is tired of watching powerful people skate. Today’s candidates, new or incumbent, who will run on true accountability, office-seekers who commit to enforcing the law no matter the party, no matter the political rank, and who will make real consequence a priority – they are the leaders who will earn our trust, and our votes.

This is the bigger picture. Let’s keep connecting the dots.