There are many things that makes the United States unique among countries. We are a young thing, only 244 years old, which is a toddler in comparison to most other countries. Our founding documents are even younger, only 233 years from ratification.
We don’t have royalty here, we don’t have a fixed class system, nor do we have military coups to change leadership — we just have elections. Along with that exercise of the “consent of the governed, we have one of the bedrock principles that has taken the U.S. from infancy to the preeminent Superpower of the world is the Rule of Law.
It has been universally understood that if the prosecutor cannot prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, or you can prove the allegations false, you will not be convicted. That standard applies to everyone: Republican, Democrat, nonpolitical, sinner, saint, righteous, agnostic, rich, poor, businessman, employee, unemployed, even non-citizen. If you are in the US, in the legal system, the rules are intended to be universal and blind to anything but proven evidence.
We have repeatedly learned over the past several years that, not only is the system not perfect, it often is dented, bent or broken by those in power. The news is full of people in jail that should never have seen the inside of a jail cell.
We also see many who are obviously guilty of crimes walk because of insufficient proof. Our legal and judicial systems are intended to be apolitical. But recent developments over the last few years have shot numerous holes in these systems. Let’s dig.
Who should be prosecuted for suspected criminal activity? If you answer, “Everyone with reasonable cause to suspect criminal activity!” you’d be correct. You are also hopelessly naïve. Note that prosecution only means an indictment or a trial — proving guilt is still required to administer any punishment.
Scores of professional athletes have been caught with illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia, yet after public apologies, go free. Try that yourself. We’ll see you when you get out of jail. Not long ago, we had a previously near-famous actor allegedly fake a hate crime. Why? In order to create racial strife? No, to get a raise on his television show as a bit player.
Bit player Jussie Smollett, formerly on Fox’s “Empire,” is an example of how a nobody with connections to powerful people in high places can get off of felony charges scot-free. (Photo: Suzanne Waters/USA Today)
The county prosecutor inexplicably — except for a late-night phone call form a former First Lady — declined to bring the case to trial. That prompted the Chicago Police Department to fume at the waste of police resources used to investigate the crime. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson so ticked off miserable-excuse-for-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, she used the first excuse she could find to fire him no long afterward.
Numerous politicians get caught misappropriating funds, sometimes to pay off women alleging illicit deeds. Apologize and pass some money under the table, all is forgiven. We have a former Secretary of State that destroyed evidence, some 30,000 emails, along with using a software known as BleachBit to erase of hard drives, and smashing cell phones with hammers—all while under subpoena.
Keep in mind, the emails, computers, and cell phones were the property of the Treasury Department. Not only is she not charged with obvious felonies, she ran for President!
We have seen at least three elected officials at the Texas border advising illegal aliens how to avoid the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). News flash: Aiding and abetting crime is a crime itself.
We have several cities and some States that routinely ignore Federal immigration law, setting themselves up as ‘sanctuaries’. These areas purposely refuse to work with Federal agencies to do their jobs. We have some states issuing drivers’ licenses and providing health care for those illegal immigrants, paid for with citizens’ taxes.
The list of elected officials that have provably, obviously lied to Congressional hearings is too numerous to list here. It is to the point now that famous people, of any type, are noteworthy if they face trials for alleged misdeeds. We have recently seen several mayors and governors ignore their lawful responsibilities, and abandon their citizens during the ‘George Floyd’ riots. Not only did they pull back their police forces and State troopers, and failed to call in the National Guard forces, they also appeared to sympathize with the rioters.
A recall petition has been approved against Seattle Major Jenny Durkin following her failure to control rioters or prevent Antifa and BLM from setting up an “autonomous zone” in the Capitol Hill area of the city. (Photo: Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times)
Exactly what is a businessman or citizen of those cities and states to do when left to their own protection? As time goes on, we will see if TV-famous rioters and statue-destroyers ever get charged with crimes, though Attorney General Bill Barr has promised they will be.
In an even more bizarre twist of law, certain citizens are being accused of the crime of defending themselves from the mob — reference the McCloskeys in St. Louis.
Further, those same governors ran roughshod over their citizens’ constitutional rights during the Wuhan virus response. Several governors continue to issue restrictive unlawful orders despite their emergency powers authorizations having expired weeks ago. Will any of those “edicts”’ see the inside of a courtroom?
The current trend in some cities is to disband or greatly reduce the funding of their police departments, will property taxes adjust downward (since they are no longer paying for their customary protection), or will citizens be granted more-needed self-defense measures, since police are not in vogue? As Attorney General William Barr’s investigations dig deeper and deeper, we see more misuse of Federal law enforcement, more undermining of the 2016 incoming Presidential administration, and completely illegal activities of the DOJ and FBI.
So, I’ll return to the original premise: Have we decided the Rule of Law no longer applies? Have we decided, as a people, that celebrity or political office can shield someone from prosecution? Can someone please provide me a list of laws that are now optional to adhere to — if I can skip that whole “taxes” thing, it’d be cool.
The fact is, the Rule of Law still applies. It hasn’t been rendered a moot point by some quixotic decision by the Supreme Court. It is being stifled at the source. Officials required by law to enforce the law are not filing charges, prosecuting and convicting the guilty. Congress is not censuring the liars among them.
The Democrats (who should drop the cloak of that name and just go by “The Marxist Party”) claim there are two tiers of justice in the U.S., and they are right. But it is not the minority suspect who gets the shaft.
It is We the People, while our representatives in Washington take our consent for them to govern as a license to lie, cheat, steal and foment a treasonous rebellion. If we don’t do something about them November 3, we as a people and a nation are doomed.
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