As a governed people, it is up to us to decide what is legal and what is not, isn't it? In a representative republic, the people at large decide what is a crime and what is not. Or so we have been told since grade school. Look around. Does it seem that way to you in today's America?
The process, as it was described to all of us since we were kids goes like this. Schoolhouse Rock was one of my favorite things while watching Saturday morning cartoons. Listening to the lyrics today makes me both happy and sad. The video describes a process by which people tell their representative that something should be a law. The representative then writes the law. It gets voted on by the House and the Senate, and it gets signed by the President. Voila! It becomes a law. If you violate what the law says, you have committed a crime. It seems kinda simple. If something isn't specifically denoted as illegal (by passing a law), it's legal. Once the people decide that something shouldn't be allowed, a law is passed and that action or activity can no longer be engaged in "under penalty of law". Get it?
The thing about laws is that their supposed to apply to EVERYONE equally, without exception. If something is illegal for a man to do, it's equally illegal for a woman to do. Laws apply equally to black folks and white folks. Gay folks and straight folks. Old and young. Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and atheists. Get the picture? Again, I ask if that is what you see in today's America? Accordingly, the Executive Branch of government has the responsibility of ENFORCING the law, equally and without prejudice neither for or against any person or group. That's America, right? The idea that we, the people, by virtue of our legally cast ballots, elect a government that enacts the laws we request to be governed by, and further elect an Executive to enforce said laws across the board so that we, the governed, can pursue Life, Liberty, and Happiness, is not only so stated in our founding documents, it is the core around which our society is organized and flourishes. Again, I ask, is that what you see all around you today?
You see, if the people are "governed", even when they don't particularly like a certain law, they accept it and acquiesce to it, so long as it is just and fair. The "just and fair" part of the equation is where the courts come in. The Judicial Branch of government in a representative republic is there to perform 2 main functions. The first is to ensure that the law, as written, complies with the Constitution. The second thing is to judge whether said law is APPLIED fairly to EVERY INDIVIDUAL. Again, I ask, is that what you see all around you today?
A governed people, as I just stated will comply with a law, even if they disagree with it if they deem it to be fair, just, and moral. To the contrary, St. Augustine say that "an unjust law is no law at all." Dr. Martin Luther King, himself, said in his letter from a Birmingham jail that, as Americans, "We have a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws." (Aside: Interestingly, over a half century since that letter was written, we are still grappling with this idea, but with the twist that not everything being foisted on the American people carry the weight and power of an actual "law". More on that later.) If you have been watching the news and keeping up with the comings and goings of modern day America, you may have taken note that there is a palpable unrest amongst our fellow citizens. Reactions from the news media range from a melancholy malaise based in a lack of understanding of it's origins all the way to a fire breathing rage and disgust directed toward the people by the talking heads usually followed by accusations of bigotry and stupidity on the part of the "governed". The people are not stupid, nor are they inherently bigoted. The people have come to (or are approaching) the conclusion that they are being ruled, rather than governed. They are being herded like sheep, rather than guided and lead.
It is spreading like a virus (if you will pardon the pun), from person to person, that America is no longer a place where the "rule of law" applies and applies equally. The idea of what a "crime" is no longer has a moral clarity that each individual can understand. In other words, the machine is broken, has been broken for longer than most people recognize, and can only be fixed when their tremendous will, wisdom, and might are focused and brought to bear. After all, the first step in solving a problem is to realize that a problem does, indeed, exist. Our nation, collectively has begun that process of acknowledging that a problem exists. The steps following that will most assuredly be more difficult.
In the next piece of this article, we'll try to do a little forensic analysis. As Sherlock Holmes called it, a bit of "deductive reasoning". From whence does the problem come? When did it start? Why did we take so long to take note of it? They say that CRIME DOESN'T PAY, but it sure seems like it's been profitable for some folks. Also, we'll take a good hard looksee at what defines a "crime" today.
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