Life in the Twilight Zone: Republicans Resurrect the Church Committee!

I remember the Church Committee, or the Senate Select Committee as it was called, back in the 1970s. I watched some of the televised hearings. I read about it at the time, and I learned a lot about the secretive, authoritarian and repressive nature of the national security state of the time.

If you ever saw the movie about Malcolm X where the FBI agent illegally wiretapping his phone said of Malcolm “He’s calling home for a grocery list? Compared to King, this guy’s a monk,” you have Senator Frank Church(D-Idaho believe it or not) to thank for making that information public.

They uncovered all sorts of nefarious and unconstitutional shit the FBI and the CIA did to American citizens who were opposed to the rising military-industrial complex and national security state. Laws were passed to rein them in. Laws that actually kinda sorta worked until Joe Biden’s and George Bush’s Patriot Act was passed in 2001.

Now, because 20 Republican House members used the power of voting as a bloc to force Kevin McCarthy to give them some concessions in exchange for their votes, there is going to be Church Committee II, this time in the House instead of the Senate and chaired by a Republican instead of a Democrat.

Except this time, their scope will be even broader. Frank Church’s investigation was limited to the federal government doing secret and illegal things to Americans within the borders of the US, and so a lot of three letter federal agencies got a pass. These Republicans must have studied the history of the old committee, because this time all of the federal 3 letter agencies will have to open their secret files to the committee.

Last time, Americans were glad the Vietnam War and Watergate were finally over with, and didn’t pay all that much attention to the Church Committee, though Republicans consistently opposed it and voted against legislation the feds didn’t like. They lost. This time, Americans are suffering in a vicious predatory capitalist economy while the national security state ignores their welfare and pours resources into Ukraine.

This time, the committee might expose something that will galvanize people to move to replace this horribly corrupt and increasingly authoritarian, nay tyrannical, government. It’s possible.

Just a few days ago, it wasn’t. Well, the Twilight Zone did have some episodes that ended in justice delivered from unexpected sources. I’m a communist. I’m also an American who thinks the Bill of Rights is something worth fighting for, and that Congress should exercise oversight of all agencies of the Executive Branch, so I’m glad these libertarian Republicans have injected just a sliver of democracy into this grossly corrupted government.

At least somebody in Congress learned the lesson that the Squad taught us two years ago when they dishonorably bowed down to power in the person of Nancy Pelosi.