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There is a long dark shadow over this
land that has been cast by what is missing from the United States, and largely
from the world as well. That shadow has produced a stain upon the land, for
Justice itself is dead to the hearts and minds of people here.
There is no honor in our court system,
when it takes upwards of a decade to resolve a simple civil matter, or when the
System is so overburdened that charges and pleas quite literally are overflowing
in every harried criminal courtroom in this land. In this environment how can
there be 'justice' in any heart thus captured - to be dragged up before the cold
corruption of the courts. In the criminal divisions, many are simply assigned a
court-appointed lawyer who barely knows the name of their assigned defendant,
much less anything about what the charges might contain. This is not a part of
any viable system designed to aid society - rather - this is a system designed
to process those who have fallen between the cracks in compliance inside an
increasingly subservient world that no longer questions much of anything.
In real justice, if there is no force
for balance in the law for any except those with massive wealth and resources;
then what becomes of all the rest of us when we come before that self-same bar
of "justice"? What is power without balance, without the strength
required to look into the face of truth? If Justice cannot be served openly and
fairly - then how can this society survive for any length of time? Seven eights
of those imprisoned now are there for crimes against the tenor and the tone of
life today. Only about one-eighth of the prison population is there for major
crimes.
The US System has been purposefully
overloaded, to rid the fearful and faithful of the remainder of those that
choose to live upon the fringes of acceptance. This did not just happen it's
been incubating now for over fifty years. The recent privatization of the prison
system, added yet another layer to this national burden, along with increased
costs - and the Prison Systems, both public and private - have created one of
the fastest growing industries in this country today. The starting salary for a
prison guard in California is $55,000 for a school-teacher it's less than half
that much. What does this say about justice and the goals of this society?
'Justice' is now enshrined in rags and
forced to walk the mean streets in too many places - begging to be heard - while
at the same time she is for sale to the highest bidder, as "everybody
knows."
What's the point in any
"promise" made by a government that takes the health and wealth and
lives of its citizens so lightly? Where in all of this does any purpose truly
lie - except to line the pockets of this Outlaw Band that leads this nation down
the road to hell! It would be better for the people if we stood as one against
this crime of crimes: In the eyes of the world these privateers are seen for
what they are and for what they seek to take from everyone they seek to rule, in
violence and with reprisals for anyone who dares resist them. Again one must
ask, where is the justice in this world - what happened to the balances that
every society must have just to be able to live?
This is not about "what we
were," it's about what we each had - what we know is right - and that
yearning deep within us all simply to breathe free again! Justice lives in the
hearts of so very many: from the orphans to the victims, from the wrongly
accused to those coerced to wear the uniform just to maybe one day have a
future. Justice then, is for everyone who has not been taken by the Grand
Illusion of Imperial Power.
The concept of Justice is not something
that should apply only to the rich - it's international, and as close as the
house next door - yet it belongs to all free people everywhere - except to those
who are now living under the PATRIOT acts, both one & two.
There was a time when a person's word
was their bond. Today most people must "verify everything" because
virtually no one can now be "trusted" to keep their word: the lack of
Justice in the recent court rulings that allowed corporations to break their
promises to their employees with impunity - is but one example of this new
reality.
So it comes down to who will chose to
stand and who will kneel before these conquerors? Criminality has become the 8,000-pound
gorilla in the living room of every home today - yet this nation and its people
wait. The children of our children will know what each of us has done, or not
done, at this fork in the road of continuing life. Will we demand that Justice
be taken from the streets and returned to her courts in a system that prosecutes
real crimes, rehabilitates those who can be, and stays far from the overtly
religious in that primitive world of those shrews that want to direct every life
except their own?
This shadow, of the death of Justice
can be rectified, but the stain upon the world that we have made will haunt the
survivors for at least a hundred years: still isn't this preferable to living on
our knees - in service to that corporatocracy that we have anointed with eternal
life?
Justice has been a companion on our
journey over the long travail from Barbarity to what we now call civilization.
If we leave her now, there can be nothing certain in our collective futures -
regardless of where we live. This road back that so many now seek, has to begin
with rectifying what we turn to, whenever we seek just solutions for whatever
happens in our lives. We must advocate for changes in the mandatory sentencing
guidelines and lose the petty stuff that clutters up the courtrooms of our
lives. We must demand that in exchange for paying for our membership in this
society: there must be some basic commitments honored between the people and
those who say they lead us. The American Liberty Bell has been cracked for a
very long time, but just as it is with Life sometimes "that's how the light
gets in." The compact between the people and this government has been
shattered in far too many ways to list here - but "everybody knows"
what has to change if we are to have a nation once again. To reform The
Criminality in the Criminal Justice System seems like a great place to start!
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