While there were two systems of governance in the world, the Western version bent over backwards to present the image (however flawed) that no one was greater than the law. Since the demise of the Communist system, that absolutism has frayed like a cheap suit made in China.
Justice in America today is in inverse-ratio to the amount of money one has accumulated from whatever source, by methods fair or foul. Take, for example, the difference in treatment between Jose Padilla and Jeffrey Skilling.
As Robert Scheer expressed recently: "Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen, has been tortured by his own government for the better part of three-and-a-half years ... denied his constitutional right to a fair and speedy trial" and "permitted no legal representation for 21 months."
Padilla has yet to be tried for the charges of which he is accused.
Skilling, the ex-Enron executive convicted -ahem- CONVICTED of crimes, will not have to rot in a cell, as Padilla has, while a US Circuit Court packed with Republicans decides whether he's eligible for bail.
Padilla was not able to commit his alleged acts of terrorism. His mission a failure, if a mission it was, his victim count is exactly one: himself. His life, even if he's subsequently found innocent, is ruined beyond reclamation. This is what he gets for making poor travel choices.
Skilling, on the other hand, committed direct fraud on thousands of employees and millions of "customers", the company he helped to lead defrauded the entire nation. This has led to widespread distrust of the American government, including a fringe element that believes the 9-11 attacks benefited Enron.
Yet it's Padilla who deteriorates under the "loving care" of the US Navy while the very rich weep crocodile tears about how rich they used to be at the very moment they collect on record profits from more current business transactions.
Corrupt business(wo)men (to separate them from the millions of law-abiding ones) require corrupt government functionaries in order to succeed at their nefarious endeavors, and there is ample evidence that these aiders and abetters exist - in both major parties. Representing the Republicans are Rep. Gary Miller of Diamond Bar, CA, and Rep. Jerry Lewis of Redlands, CA. Lewis is himself so hot that Shawn Steel, Chairman of the conservative California Club for Growth published an open letter demanding that Lewis resign.
Article comments
1 - nancy
Well written. Alas, this isn't anything new: the rich have always gotten preferential treatment & a better brand of lenient wrist-slapping "justice" than the rest of us. It's just that during the BushCo years, this has become even more blatant than usual, typical of the arrogance of this administration & its puppetmasters.