Liberty and Justice For All?

We live in a world of anomalies - - situations that defy commonly held rationales for the way things are supposed to work. The Bush Justice Department was run by functionaries who were hired according to religious or partisan credentials rather than expertise and a commitment to established law - - in short, a department run amok.

A new administration brings hope for change on many levels. For starters Attorney General Holder overturned the conviction of Senator Stevens because of improper conduct by the prosecution team. Holder sent a message that such behavior would not be tolerated by his office and he declined to order a new trial for Stevens.

The message was an encouraging one for the future of the Justice Department. Still, the promise of a level playing field remains more theory than practice for many ordinary Americans. And, unfortunately Holder's decision has spawned a series of non-sequiturs from Republicans, most particularly Governor Palin. The fact is that prosecutorial misconduct doesn't in and of itself mean the charges against Stevens were unfounded. Palin's suggestion that Alaska's newly elected Democratic Senator Begich should step down and another election be held is an absurd attempt to forge a political coup.

Whatever exculpatory details failed to surface during trial, the number of tangential convictions and the nature of the charges were substantial. Stevens was always a major "porker"- - remember the bridge to nowhere?  In any case the preponderance of the evidence seemed to suggest that he used his office to obtain benefits and provided favors in return. An inept prosecution doesn't necessarily prove a defendant's innocence.

Elsewhere on the judicial front did it seem odd to anyone else that Eliot Spitzer's hooker assignation received the kind of attention it did from law enforcement and that the threat of criminal charges regarding cross-border sex forced him from the Governor's office? Did his forays into suspect behavior on Wall Street and at AIG perhaps make some of the nation's high rollers on ‘the street' and in government uncomfortable? After all Republican Senator Vitter received a mere touch of scorn for his hooker involvement as did convicted bathroom felon, Senator Craig, and both remain in office. But the roof fell in on Spitzer. According to Greg Palast "naming and shaming and ruining Spitzer - - rarely done in these cases - - was made at the ‘discretion' of Bush's Justice Department".

It is said, there's plenty of blame to go around as the country's financial meltdown plays out. However, when the powerful and well-placed purposely look the other way, preventing discovery and protecting scoundrels, their actions or lack of action represents a betrayal of the American people. Public anger should be directed at those who keep trying to invent reasons other than stupidity and malfeasance for our economic woes. Too often the right questions are posed but the wrong conclusions are drawn.

It's as if we were beset by a national Stockholm Syndrome, that state of mind in which captives begin to identify with and become one with their captors, out of fear and an inability to find a means of escape. A free-wheeling capitalistic structure that is supposed to fuel our economy and provide jobs is off-shoring profits and unabashedly sending jobs out of the country - - not just to stay competitive in terms of a product but to boost the bottom line even at companies doing quite well enough, like AT&T who made huge profits but is said to be spending millions to staff its facilities in India.

Will regular folks remain cowed in the face of greed and a political system that promises justice but talks past their real concerns? In the end, if no effort is made by government and no pressure brought to bear by individuals to stem the tide of job exports, top executives will continue to command outrageous compensation while the wages of mid-level employees and labor flat-line. It won't matter then how many banks are bailed out because our system will no longer provide a viable template for a healthy economy.

In the early days of his business Henry Ford kept his prices low enough so that his employees would be able to buy his cars. But today, corporations no longer care about providing jobs for our indigenous workforce, let alone the wherewithal to enjoy the good things we were taught to believe would be the reward of our democratic institutions. "Liberty and justice for all" is part of the pledge for heaven's sake. It's what we were promised and what we should demand.