Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Liberty and Justice For All...Except for That Guy Because He's An Asshole

You know that emblem that adorns most courthouses and many courtrooms?  It's a woman in robes and a blindfold holding a scale in one hand and a sword in the other?  Most of you probably know why she's blindfolded, because it's not supposed to matter who the person or persons are seeking justice.  All should be judged based on the merits of the case, not who are what they are.

Our country is rife with ignoring this ideal.  From the writs of attainder utilized during reconstruction (those are laws that target specific people and not meant to be applied to everyone equally) to Jim Crow laws in the 60's, examples are not hard to come by.  Even today we have laws that specifically seek to advantage some over others. 

Education admission standards that allow ethnicity to considered or even be an advantage, a department of justice that refuses to pursue cases against minority groups while suing states for enacting laws to combat voter fraud, and a Labor Board that favors businesses working in one state over another are just a few examples.  Recently we've also seen an American born cleric assassinated with another American Citizen killed at the same time.  We're told that his crimes were too great to afford him equal justice under the law.  The Federal Reserve prints money to buy bad debt from banks, bailing them out of the mess they got themselves into, meanwhile all this created money dillutes the value of all dollars, reducing the purchase power of our money.  Additionally, while the banks are bailed out for their bad decisions, homeowners who also made bad decisions are stuck to live with those consequences. 

Instead of a system in which all are free to live as they choose and suffer the consequences of their decisions freely and equally, we continue to try to rank people by their importance.  Fairness is letting everyone stand or fall on their own....and not assassinating people, even if they are assholes.

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