Democracy Dies Without Accountability
"It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions." - Ronald Reagan
British police have arrested Peter Mandelson, the U.K.’s former ambassador to the United States and a Labour Party grandee for decades, on suspicion that he committed misconduct in public office.
What a concept.
Here’s The Guardian on the latest Epstein adjacent Brit.
Video footage showed [Mandelson] being driven away from his home in an unmarked car shortly after being escorted from his home by officers.
The Metropolitan police have been investigating the alleged leaking by Mandelson of Downing Street emails and market-sensitive information to [Jeffrey] Epstein.
A police spokesperson said: “Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office.”
When I read that last sentence I immediately thought of any number of people in the Trump Administration, the Congress, the Supreme Court, on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley.
The Brits seem genuinely serious about this Epstein business and about misconduct in public office.
Us, not so much.
It’s difficult to be an optimist in today’s world and I’m not all that optimistic, but I do focus on realism and try to populate my writing with solid sourcing and not merely opinion. I write these pieces to offer a perspective based on history and particularly American political history since 1900.
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Er, No …
The president of the United States says he has been “totally exonerated” by the (partial) release of the mountain of information about convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
That is, of course, total orange white washing.
Trump is mentioned thousands of times. There are credible accusations. And he acts as guilty as all get out.
The Justice Department has released something like 3.5 million documents related to Epstein and by some accounts millions more remain secret.
“The DOJ said it identified over 6 million potentially responsive pages but is releasing only about 3.5 million after review and redactions. This raises questions as to why the rest are being withheld,” [Congressman Ro] Khanna said, adding: “Failing to release these files only shields the powerful individuals who were involved and hurts the public’s trust in our institutions.”Donald Trump is mentioned thousands of times in the Epstein files and how many times (we don’t know) in the material that has not been released.
The Epstein scandal is taking down people around the world, including the prince formerly known as Andrew. But in the former colonies accountability is so very 20th Century.
The British Royal Family is struggling to stay ahead of the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor story and British prime minister Keir Starmer is in trouble for not recognizing that the now arrested Peter Mandelson was toxic when he sent him to Washington to represent His Majesty’s government.
Here’s Ben Wellings, a British political scientist, writing in The Conversation:
More broadly, and in common with many other liberal democracies, there is a pervasive sense the Epstein scandal is more evidence of the existence of a self-serving, corrupt elite making good for itself and harming others, while many people in the “left behind” and “squeezed middle” of society are struggling.
Politically, this perception adds further fuel to the notion that the inequality between the rulers and the ruled has become unjustifiable. Something has to change.
Something has to change on this side of the Atlantic, as well.
Howard Lutnick, the Commerce secretary, lied about his relationship with Epstein, but still has his job. Only one Republican, Representative Thomas Massie, the guy who helped force release of Epstein files, has called for Lutnick’s resignation.
Only one.
The attorney general’s recent bombastic and embarrassing theatrics before Congress would, in a normal world, be grounds for dismissal. Pam Bondi is still in office.
Jokers and grifters and incompetents abound in this our age of no accountability.
Kristi Noem, the puppy shooting DHS secretary, came to Washington with enough scandal baggage to get her booted from a Southwest Airlines flight, but she keeps adding to her totals and she still has a job.
And she’s definitely not flying Southwest.
So too Kash Patel, a well-known podcaster and hockey fan, who sometimes plays at being director the FBI. Patel - it rhymes with Go Tell - went to Italy last weekend to see the U.S.-Canada Olympic hockey game on our dime and he had a beer.
Patel has been dogged by accusations that he mixes work with pleasure since he was sworn in as FBI director in late February 2025. In November, he was embroiled in controversy after he used an FBI jet to travel to Pennsylvania to watch his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, sing the national anthem at a wrestling match.
Patel’s job is secure, in part perhaps because he’s helping implement the Epstein coverup. No big deal that he hardly has time for real FBI work while jetting here and there.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has trashed the Department of Health and Human Services and taken a hammer to vaccine policy. He’s still there.
A few business leaders and foreign political people have lost positions or been demoted due to Epstein shenanigans, but the inequality between the rulers and the ruled remains.
And in the United States accountability goes packing, unlike anyone in high public office.
Republicans in Congress could, of course, end the charade about full disclosure regarding Epstein in about ten minutes if they chose to do so. They could also mumble something about losing confidence in Bondi, Noem, Patel or RFK.
That they won’t do any of that is also a scandal.
Virginia Giuffre’s family - she was an Epstein victim who died by suicide - said today of the arrest of Peter Mandelson:
“The contrast with the continued inaction in the United States is undeniable. Survivors deserve transparency, swift investigation, and real justice, no matter who is implicated.”
Not to get all old fashioned on you, but it really is true that democracy requires a certain level of adherence to good character. And a lapse of good character in public office, as the Brits are proving, requires, well, at least a tiny bit of accountability.
The Founding generation got it.
“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”
– John Adams
Ronald Reagan, not my favorite president, also got it.
If you are old enough to remember you may recall that Reagan actually did accept responsibility - accountability if you will - for the bizarre Iran-Contra caper on his watch.
What a concept.
Let’s hope Reagan’s kind of accountability isn’t permanently out of fashion on this side of the Atlantic. I’m not an optimist, but you can always hope.
All the best.
About me:
I am a Nebraska native, grew up in South Dakota and migrated in Idaho after college to work in broadcast journalism. In 1986, I joined the “comeback” campaign of a legendary Idaho political figure – Cecil D. Andrus – who eventually served four terms as governor and four years as Secretary of the Interior, not bad for a Democrat in a very conservative state. I had a small role in helping Cece Andrus win his last two gubernatorial terms. I did communication and crisis consulting work, and since “retiring” have written three books on U.S. Senate history. I’m working on a new book on another legend – this one a legend in journalism.
I write this Substack to scratch my itch to connect history with current politics. I hope, in some small way, to contribute to understanding of this perilous moment for our democracy, for free speech and facts.