5 Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills—
6 Now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites, in the space of not many years;
It is so hard to read these verses and not see our present government. More than any time in modern history the current president has "filled the judgment seats" with the equivalent of "robbers". There has been a constant barrage of convictions of men appointed to political offices.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is the agency responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act.
Paul Manafort - sentenced to 7 and 1/2 years for bank and tax fraud and crime related to his work as a political consultant in the Ukraine.
Michael Cohen - the president's private attorney - a three-year sentence for tax evasion, bank fraud, and lying to Congress and campaign finance violations
George Papadopoulos - a Trump campaign adviser sentenced for 12 days for lying to investigators about the Russian contacts
Richard Pinedo - a six-month prison sentence for selling bank account numbers to Russians who engaged in election interference
Rick Gates - ex campaign deputy chairman convicted of conspiracy and lying to the FBI. He entered a plea deal after cooperating on multiple investigations and got 45 days in jail, three years probation with 300 hours of community service
Rodger Stone received a 40-month sentence for obstruction of justice, lying to Congress, and witness tampering. He was pardoned by the president who is a personal friend.
Michael Flynn - former national security advisor pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Chris Collins - a New York congressman who was the first to stand up and endorse Trump received a two-year two months sentence for security fraud conspiracy and making false statements.
Duncan Hunter, a congressman from California and the second to endorse Trump, resigned his post in January 2020 pleading guilty to conspiring to misuse $250,000 of campaign funds for personal use.
Sam Patten, a Washington DC lobbyist, pleaded guilty to illegally funneling foreign money into Trump's inaugural committee. He received a 3-year probation, a $5,000 fine with 500 hours of community service.
This isn't the first time we have seen this kind of corruption in government. We only need to go back to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and look at all of the people that got pulled into that scandal.
Look again at the words in verse 5, "letting the guilty and wicked go unpunished because of their money and more over to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills".
Because both power and money corrupt, as we see from all the above examples, our government has created the Hatch Act (updated in 1993) to protect our system of government.
According to the Hatch Act federal employees are prohibited from participating in partisan political activities on federal time and with federal resources.
Federal employees may not:
- use official authority or influence to interfere with an election
- solicit or discourage political activity of anyone with business before their agency
- solicit or receive political contributions (with the exception that it may be done in certain limited situations by federal labor or other employee organizations)
- be candidates for public office in partisan
- wear partisan political buttons on duty
- engage in political activity while on duty, in a government office, wearing an official uniform, or using a government vehicle.
Beyond that there are some employees whose position demands that they remain non-partisan. These people are prohibited from engaging in any partisan political activity. They are the following:
- Administrative Law Judges
- Central Imagery Office
- CIA
- Contract Appeals
- Criminal Division (Department of Justice)
- Defense Intelligence Agency
- FBI
- Federal Elections Commission
- Merit Systems Protection Board
- National Security Agency
- National Security Council
- Office of Criminal Investigation (IRS)
- Office of Investigative Programs (Customs)
- Office of law Enforcement (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms)
- Office of Special Counsel
- Secret Service
- Senior Executive Services (Career Positions)
The Hatch Act applies to executive state and local employees who are principally employed in programs financed in whole or in part by the United States or federal agency. That means all federally funded programs.
Why do we have to have a law like this? Because power and money corrupt. Partisan politics gets in the way of truth. There have to be some guarantees that prevent corruption at our highest level of government. As citizens, it is our responsibility to hold elected officials accountable for everything that they do. Congratulate them when they do a good service. But when they fail they also need to hear for us. And when they act illegally we need to write the proper authority.
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