OPINION:
Imagine you are the brand-new chief technology officer of a large company. The CEO has asked you to lead a portion of the company, one of the largest. Now, you are taking the helm of a department that you are passionate about, which needs change from its leadership after decades of mismanagement.
Then, when you get to your job, a departing employee who didn’t like what you did at a previous firm decides that you shouldn’t be able to do your job. That employee, in a final middle finger to you, your company and its shareholders, prevents you from accessing the company’s files on information you said you wanted to review.
This exact scenario happened to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he took the reins of the department President Trump asked him to lead.
In an act of defiance against the American people’s will, Dr. Peter Marks decided that the man asked by the duly elected president of the United States to helm HHS was not qualified enough to have unrestricted access to a federal vaccine database. Worse, Dr. Marks — the now-former head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, who was ousted from his position in March — was helped by a political smokescreen from The Associated Press after inhibiting the American people’s demand for change.
AP’s framing of a deliberate act of defiance against a sitting president and the people who elected him as heroic is wrong and dangerous for the future of our country.
This action by Dr. Marks and the subsequent pass by AP, a legacy media outlet that claims to be a fair arbiter, illustrate the accountability problem facing the American people.
First and foremost, Dr. Marks’ action telegraphs a message not only to Mr. Kennedy but also to the American people writ large. By denying Mr. Kennedy unrestricted access to the federal government’s vaccine database, a subject on which the HHS secretary is noted as being a loud voice, Dr. Marks also denied the American people the change they demanded in November. Regardless of what one believes about vaccine safety, or even one’s personal views on Mr. Kennedy and his work, a federal employee preventing a Senate-confirmed Cabinet secretary from performing his duties is a nonstarter.
Second, in any industry, let alone the federal government, defying your boss’ orders or, worse, inhibiting an employee from doing his work on your way out the door, is something for which you can face legal repercussions. I earned a bachelor’s degree in business, and one of the cardinal lessons I learned was not to harm the shareholder. Dr. Marks’ action alone throws water on that wisdom, and unfortunately, it will set the stage for similar actions in the future.
After witnessing the federal union’s abuse of taxpayer dollars through its broadcasting of an artificial-intelligence-generated image of Mr. Trump kissing Elon Musk’s feet, Americans can assume only that someone else charged with the stewardship of taxpayer dollars is planning something dumb.
Third, and probably one of the most concerning facets of this issue, is the legacy media’s whitewashing of the problem. AP’s attempt to paint Mr. Marks as a hero of American democracy causes more problems by propping up those who believe themselves smarter than the American people. This disease runs rampant in the legacy media. Where there once was researched and well-sourced discourse on public policy, there is now an echo chamber of half-confirmed hearsay and aspects of heroism attributed to people who committed unforgivable sins in public service.
Finally, it is this intellectual superiority complex that is driving these actions. Dr. Marks, like many others in the federal career echo chamber, believed himself smarter than the American voters, the duly elected president and the president’s chosen Cabinet secretary. Dr. Marks acted accordingly to his beliefs and, in doing so, showed his hand and the hands of other current and former federal employees who share his worldview.
The federal government must investigate the actions taken by Dr. Marks that inhibited the will of the American people, and the legacy media need to stop carrying water for the individuals who believe themselves intellectually superior to the American people.
We don’t deserve this.
• Houston Keene joined Democracy Restored after a career working in Congress and as a nationally syndicated journalist covering politics, including the executive branch and government ethics. Mr. Keene was born in Austin, Texas, and is a proud father, husband and Baylor Bear.
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