How slow can you go?
September 29, 2021
Another in a series of observations of life as I know it.
I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.
-Will Rogers
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The wheels of justice are ponderously slow. Even though our system of jurisprudence assures citizens of their right to a speedy trial. I guess time measurement is relative. So in legal language, why hasn’t someone, anyone, thrown the book at the orange guy? Surely an indicted felon can’t run for office in 2024, right? Right? RIGHT?
Long ago and far away, I studied under Professor Jay Goodman at Wheaton College. He taught me the intricacies of state and local government juxtaposed against the sweeping scope of national politics. He could argue any subject from all sides and every party affiliation. Thanks to dear Jay I am a political junkie of the first order. Ever since the watershed events of 2015, when a would be autocrat whose empire was built on stolen goods and ill gotten gains, oozed down a golden elevator, I have longed to talk to Jay. To pick his giant brain and hope for solace. Without him, I have felt lost in a vast wilderness.
WWJD. I have changed the nomenclature a tad. What Would Jay Do? About, well, anything. The 2022 elections. The willful blindness of the Democratic party and a recalcitrance to consensus building. The demonic doings of the GOP, hellbent on the destruction of democracy and moral norms. And what to do about Joe Manchin. I have a few ideas which involve dropping the West Virginia senator down a coal mine shaft head first, without a canary. That is another conversation. Politics have devolved. Into what, I haven’t a clue. Biden, god love him, inherited the mess left behind in the wake of the whirlwind. And yes, there have been missteps. If he cleans up one thing, another disaster pops up in its place. He handed the Democratic Party the White House, but now he’s not liberal enough for one wing, too left for another, while the third segment of the party just pushes back for the hell of it. If Biden says black, Manchin says white. And will flip flop if the president gives an inch. With friends like these, who needs enemies? As a result, we have a national stalemate, with the GOP taking advantage of Democratic impotence, forcing draconian election laws to pass, and our US bank account to default. Gosh, what a great idea! We have folks who sat out the pandemic without employment now facing government mandated furloughs, unpaid I might add.
Jay!!!!
I am searching for a life raft in heavy seas. At this point, I’d settle for inflatable water wings like those that toddlers wear. So I will circle back to the beginning. Where are the indictments? Why isn’t that fat guy in Mar-A-Loco wearing horizontal stripes? For pity’s sake, he was impeached twice. Bob Woodward has three books that serve a primers and step by step maps for the Department of Justice. The former guy committed crimes in plain sight. And yet if I drive 2 miles over the speed limit, I will be hit with 3 points on my license, increased insurance rates and a hefty fine. Felonies were perpetrated upon the populace at will. With malice afore thought. With criminal intent. Am I talking to myself again? Jay!
I am mystified and bemused by the slow walk of justice and the gate-legged hopscotch of intelligent legislation. My trusty canines can even tell that democracy is on a fast track to dissolution. The Spirit of ‘76 has been replaced by a would be Imperial Potentates or an unconstitutional monarchy. These truly are the times that try humans’ souls. What can possibly happen next?
An American Taliban.
Credit: Thomas Nast, 1876.