Saturday, January 11, 2025

Justice, American Style

Those noises that people heard this morning, coming from cemeteries, burial plots and tombs in places like Mt. Vernon, Virginia, in the Christ Church burial yard in Philadelphia, near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, in the Park Street Church cemetery in Boston, in the Trinity churchyard in New York, and scattered up and down the east coast, were the founding fathers of the United States of America, rolling over in their graves.  It's been happening quite a bit lately, as the constitutional democracy they carefully designed, debated, and finally drafted and ratified has come unravelled.  The noises were just a bit louder today, as the rule of law died with them.  

For the first time in American history, what these men found so unimaginable they provided no contingency or provision for its occurrence, a man convicted of a felony will take the oath of office as President of the United States.  What that says about the character of the country itself, the failure of its leadership, the lack of moral values of a plurality of its electorate, the ineffectiveness of its judiciary and legal system, and its respect for the rule of law is disgraceful.  

And what will the consequences be, down the road, as a result of teaching our children that there are certain people who are above the law?  How will they learn to have respect for a law that only applies to certain people, not to everyone equally?  

A Travesty of Justice

Thirty-four felony convictions, warranting a sentence that is basically no sentence at all doesn't make any sense, unless the judge was bribed, or his family threatened with their lives, or that he thinks Trump is right, and this is all just a witch-hunt, he's being persecuted, he's right and he didn't do anything wrong in spite of the fact that a jury of his peers believed, based on the evidence, he committed 34 serious crimes. Otherwise, such a sentence gives Trump's claims of this being the result of a partisan witch-hunt all the credibility he needs to take advantage of it.  Basically, this is jury nullification.  

As a progressive, especially when it comes to law enforcement and the administration of justice, I've never really been in favor of laws that mandate sentences for specific crimes.  On the other hand, the latitude that is often placed in the hands of judges implies a high level of trust in their impartiality which too many are unable to exercise, unfortunately, especially in this highly charged partisan, political climate. A mandated sentence here would have guaranteed that Trump would suffer some consequence for his crimes, and he should have.  

Aside from owing the American people, or at least, those of us who still understand and respect the rule of law, an apology, the judge owes every person in America who is serving a sentence for committing a felony an apology.  Frankly he also owes it to us to resign.  Or he needs to come up with a reasonable and logical explanation to millions of younger Americans why they should continue to respect the rule of law when the President-elect of the United States does not have to.  

Come on, people, let's not tip-toe around the reality of this situation.  This is what a travesty of justice looks like.  

Grasping at Straws

When indictments for the instigation of the Trump Insurrection on January 6th, 2021 and for the stolen classified documents were handed down, was there ever a reasonable expectation that he would ever be brought to trial, even at that point?  I watched every moment of the Congressional hearings, and they made a very solid case.  I also watched some of the reaction to the results of that from conservatives, and they, too, were pretty convinced that he was going down.  It wasn't so much what they said as it was how they said it.  

That was the time for bold action on the part of the Biden Administration and the justice department on behalf of the American people.  But they stuck to their old school, status quo themes, of wanting to separate politics from the justice department, and in maintaining a separation between the President and the Attorney General.  And the failure to bring Trump to trial for his crimes will be the historic black mark on Biden's otherwise excellent record.  

The special prosecutor, and at least one of the federal judges involved in the January 6th case did an excellent job of building their case on evidence that bypassed the Supreme Court's immunity standard, at least, the way it now stands.  If they had tried this in a timely manner, instead of permitting endless delays, and pushed to get it on the docket and in the courtroom in a timely manner, instead of letting it drag on for four years, they'd have had a conviction for insurrection that would have prohibited the GOP from nominating the orange buffoon.  

That would have been a convincing argument, and sound support for the Democrats' contention that they believed Trump was an existential threat to American democracy.  But the interminable delays, obfuscation, foot dragging, slow walking and long periods of no action at all, admitted to by the attorney general, are inexcusable, and they were fatal to the cause.  

Why are we even bothering to fuss about releasing documents associated with both cases?  What difference will that make now?  Crowing about the fact that the DOJ smacked Aileen Cannon down, and about releasing documents being dark days for Trump is a pitiful consolation prize against the dismantling of the rule of law that this represents.  

I call things the way I see them.  There are multiple factors involved in why Harris lost the election, including the decision by Biden to drop out made way too late, after so much support had already eroded.  But I think a lot of that support would have been there, if those cases had been brought to trial.  I don't expect polling data to tell the truth about anything at this point, but I think the failure to back up the claim about Trump's threat to the country with a viable, strong, solid case in the courts was a fatal blow to the party's chances at holding on to the White House.  It was part of way too much old school, status quo politics, that lacked boldness for support.  

Maybe I Should Be Patient and Wait on the Public Outrage That Should be Accompanying This Travesty 

I've concluded, by my own observation, that Trump is indeed an existential threat to democracy in America, based on his record from his first term in office and the threats he has made since.  He hasn't hidden who he is, though he whines and complains when people are honest about it.  But I don't perceive, from the manner in which the justice department has handled these cases, and from their acquiescence, instead of putting up a fight to get these cases into the courts, that Democratic party leadership believe this, or that they care all that much.  

All in all, from a political perspective, Democrats held on to a lot.  We lost a couple of good Senators in Bob Casey and Sherrod Brown, and a couple of losers in Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema.  We picked up a top notch Senator in Ruben Gallego, gained seats in the house, gained seats in multiple state legislatures breaking down GOP gerrymandering like Wisconsin and North Carolina.  So there are plenty of Democrats still holding on to their jobs.  We've heard a few peeps about the mid-terms, though the lack of bold innovation and energy has to be a lot higher than it is now.  

I'm a lifelong Democrat, and after what transpired with these court cases against Trump, I'm giving notice that my vote must now be earned by candidates.  Don't expect my support just because we happen to be in the same party.  The Republicans abandoned the status quo, old school political line a long time ago, and they now get the money they need to buy elections, tips from the billionaires for whom they work.  It's time for Democrats to empower younger leaders who will take bold risks to serve the American people.  

I'm talking about bold moves like breaking the Senate filibuster and then using the majority we had to pack that damn court with justices who would overturn the Dobbs decision and the ridiculous immunity ruling.  We could have done that.  Yes, it's risky, especially when the other side gets into power, but they're going to do the same when it suits them, so why not take the risk and get a job done for the American people, instead of circling the wagons to hang on to what power we can?  

I'll never vote Republican.  But I can leave boxes on my ballot blank, and I will do that to any politician who still wants to play by the old school rules, or who appears to be more interested in hanging on to power than serving the American people.  It's likely that we may never have that opportunity again, given the circumstances.  So on top of that, we need leaders who will fight against the tyranny that has been proposed.  We may need to fight to even have a mid-term election.  

We will certainly have to rebuild our justice system.  It should never, under any circumstance, take four years to gather evidence and prosecute a case.  

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