WHEN DID JUSTICE DIE?

Once upon a time in America, justice was blind to whom stood before her judgment and she aggressively protected the rule of law's equality. From the wrongdoing of a homeless perpetrator to illegality done by public figures, the law was respected and upheld by apolitical prosecutors seeking justice for victims while equally deterring those thinking of committing  similar crimes. 

Rightly or wrongly, Americans today have the perception that Lady Justice is peeking behind her blind as she refuses to prosecute the politician, and rich powerful figures while instead, seeking to target only the hard working middle class offender. From prosecutorial discretion to political persecution our justice system has become a shadow of its original foundation of faith by Americans; that there is equal protection under the law.

Upholding the rule of law requires not just prosecutions of those that violate the law, but prosecutors must make egalitarian examples especially when it comes to public figures and those leading our government's policies. The perception that one will be held accountable and serve jail time, is an important tool of deterrence, but it is also a necessary nurturance to morality in governance.

When illegal activities and unethical scandals are ignored or result in watered down punishment, it not only sends the message of hypocrisy but stamps the approval to the rich and powerful that they are untouchable which leads to furthering corruption.     

Americans are more than frustrated by a convergence  of current realities besetting the nation. The worse level of trust exists over our government's honesty, uprightness and representation of our needs in three centuries and three decades of our founding. In fact, the growing consensus is that Congress works for special interest monies only and by that, acts against the average American's needs.

We are losing our self governing system to career politicians who are corrupted by corporate monies and cowed by a liberal media pretending to report truth. The federal entrenched elitist government bureaucratic power continues to grow while simultaneously America's citizens fear and distrust in their government grows.

Where the law was once viewed as the pluralistic equalizer, between the governed and the governor, today the unconscionable volume of laws and regulations is a virtual pillory around the neck of hapless citizens. 

Meanwhile the lawlessness of our own government (Benghazi, IRS, Fast and Furious, DHS, NSA spying) is ignored, politicized and treated as minor missteps by those pretending to oath allegiance to our Constitution.

If Congress was serious about uncovering wrongdoing and investigating the truth over the multiple breaches of law by the government, then a special prosecutor would have been authorized long ago to investigate a warm trail of evidence. Instead, they allowed the trail to freeze over.

The people went to the polls in 2014 seeking to stop the fanatical actions of one party (Democrats) leading the country into debt, danger and ruin, only to find the other party (GOP) content to do nothing. 

The leadership of our country is so perverse and the representative rational is so contaminated with political expediency, there is a paralysis of decency, honor and trust in our government.   

Apparently it is no longer about the probity of our laws and the integrity of our Constitution, but rather it is all about politics, it is all about winning elections, it is all about 2016, it is all about political strategy while corruption marches onward without so much as a speed bump in its way.

The new normal of debauchery by government officials has replaced the respectability of public service and has the potential to dissuade the moral minded and incorruptible candidates from seeking office. Worse would be the return of a cynical public no longer seeking honorable office holders for their fight against lawless leadership.

The world outside your door might be a jungle of liars and thieves but they do not have the power to hurt or corrupt you, instead you have the power to set the example of righteousness and show that world fearlessness in the face of their false dominion.     

We Americans must be willing to confront, not bow, antagonize, not appease, vocalize, not stammer, expect, not forgive, demand, not ask, that our representative hold tightly in their hearts and minds our Constitution. The document that relies solely on the citizens preservation, acknowledgement and passionate possession.

Thomas Paine words  "These are the times that try men's souls" is as ripe today as it was then, for today is the time that tries all, of our American souls.