Equal Justice For All

  

        I advocate equal justice for all.  I do not like to see individuals or special interest groups getting special considerations or privileges.  It seems like Hollywood celebrities, sports stars, the super rich, and the political elite do not think the laws apply to them.  If most of us break the law and are caught, we expect to pay the price.  Why do the privileged in our population not think they should face the same consequences? 

        Hollywood Super stars seem to always be in the news, and never seem to face the same consequences as the rest of us. Jane Fonda is one of the oldest examples I remember personally.  She went to Hanoi, North Vietnam and met with the communist military leaders we were fighting.  She was shown American prisoners and betrayed their trust so they were beaten and some even died.  This was obviously not done with the approval of our government or military.  Ms Fonda now admits it was probably the worse mistake she ever made in her life, but she was never held accountable.  She never faced any charges and the fact that she caused the death of American military personnel never seemed to even affect her career.  She probably should have been tried for treason with a potential penalty of death. 

        Sports are a big part of our culture and some of the sports celebrities do not think the law applies to them.  O.J. Simpson is one of the most extreme examples.  Many people feel he got away with murder.  We hear of new examples almost every day.  These sports heroes should be setting examples for our youth and not giving the impression the law does not need to be observed.

        In the Nixon/Frost interviews, President Nixon said, “It’s not illegal if the President does it.”  This seems to be the attitude of some political elite today.  The other excuse is that it is okay to lie, cheat and break the law if “it’s just politics”.  This has got to stop. 

        Nixon resigned the Presidency for covering up what I would almost call a political prank.  Now we have multiple political scandals and cover-ups where Americans sometimes died.  If anyone would have told me a decade ago that the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice, and the National Security Agency could or would be used for political purposes, I would have said it can never happen in this country.  Now we know better.  Were laws broken?  Were civil rights abused? Was the Constitution ignored? Amazingly the political elite denies any knowledge of what was happening.  Who’s running the government? 

We hear about people resigning or people that should resign.  When someone resigns or is fired, they seem to face no additional consequences and the cover-up continues.  I don’t want to see anyone get fired or resign.  I want to see the people responsible go to jail.