This is NOT working as intended, Jack.. Justice in the United States is supposed to be the same as in all non-authoritarian forms of government BLIND, That is justice has no pre-positions, cases are heard and tried on the identified evidence. But because WE, the people turned a blind eye to all the Republican Party appointments to the ju…
This is NOT working as intended, Jack.. Justice in the United States is supposed to be the same as in all non-authoritarian forms of government BLIND, That is justice has no pre-positions, cases are heard and tried on the identified evidence. But because WE, the people turned a blind eye to all the Republican Party appointments to the judiciary since 1981 when they began stacking the courts at all levels with party loyalists instead of great jurists as was done in the past. Oh, I, like most of us paid attention to appointees to the Supreme Court, but didn't follow a single appointment to appellate or district level Federal Courts. Why should I care? I'm not a criminal and I thought my elected officers would deal with it.
I wish now I had the last 40 years to live over again.
Yes, we have a two tier justice system and it may be worse than that if a homeless man steals a can of soup because he is hungry and goes straight to jail because he does not have money for bail.
Agreed, but, I personally know of a homeless man who deliberately broke into a government office building stole a very, very, small amount of money and treats from desk drawers, made a half-ass attempt to break into the safe with a nail file, so he could spend the next six months in jail out of the cold and with daily food. I happened to come into the office early, (six am), discovered him asleep on the floor and called the police. Sometimes they commit petty theft just to spend the winter out of the cold. That's not a blight on the legal system, it's a blight on us for not caring enough for our fellow humans to assure that all are fed and sheltered.
It is sad and we are the wealthiest nation on earth, making us very able to do much more for our citizens. I get angry every time I hear the phrase affordable health care for all. In other words , health insurance rates that fit most folks budgets. It is a shame that everyone does not just have health care, as a birthright as they have in many other countries. Here in the US it is health care for profit, instead of health care for the people. As long as it is a business focused on profit, it will never change.
It is unregulated capitalism a fault here, Jack. From 1933 until approximately 1973 capitalism was regulated and the system worked as designed. It wasn't classless, but to the best of my knowledge no where is there a classless system among any animals on Earth. Even ants and bees have classes.
What we had in the period was a fair shake for the vast majority. We had a few wealthy, but not obscenely wealthy people who were worth in the millions. The largest middle class the world has ever known. A smaller laboring class living at subsistence level and a very, very few, mostly male, dirt poor who traveled and lived as best they could in their relatively brief lives.
Business, whether corporate or small family owned did focus on profit but they had "stakeholders' instead of "shareholders". The stakeholders included their employees, their customers, and their communities.
All was well. But a few Republicans had an absolute hatred for Franklin Roosevelt whom they considered a traitor to his class. They believed firmly in an aristocracy and their main goal from 1935 on was to destroy all the safety nets the Democrats in Government had formed Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, under FDR, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid and the Civil Rights Act under LBJ.
Nixon did the best he could but he had criminal inclinations, so wasn't successful. Then along came Ronnie, a relatively handsome man with a very good voice and a second rate acing career on the big screen and TV, and very limited inteligence. He apparently appealed to women and some men who lacked an understanding of economics.
Reagan's supply side economics - which I don't think he understood because he always referred o it as trickle down - along with his hatred of unions, thus breaking up unions and deregulating as much as he could get through at the time. His dislike of unions apparently had something to do with his leadership of SAG (screen actors guild) he left the Democrats in a huff and joined the Republicans. (About the same time as his divorce from Jane Wyman) and subsequent marriage to Nancy.
From 1981 we have spiraled down to where we are today. Cuts in taxes on the wealthy and corporations did exactly as planned; redistribute the wealth from the vanishing middle class to the wealthy and wealthier.
We need, as Joe and Kamala have said, to put the train back on the tracks. Break up the monopolies (I hope starting in the food industry - food costs continue to soar up); tax the wealth not the income; build some kind of health care for all, and especially add mental health care. Yes some health insurance industries will go out of business. Tough patooties - they shouldn't have been so greedy.
It will take time, since it all has to be done lawfully through the legal system. And we know how long that will take.
We all need to have the courage to enforce the Constitution and the Law of the Land. Which will result in putting some favorite sons' asses in jail and stripping them of their ill gotten gains.
How long will it last? Who knows? The 'golden age of robber barons' lasted nearly sixty years. The good years of middle class and safety nets about forty years. The Ronnie babie to the trumpster/dumpster approaching fifty years. So maybe we're finally getting smarter.
This is NOT working as intended, Jack.. Justice in the United States is supposed to be the same as in all non-authoritarian forms of government BLIND, That is justice has no pre-positions, cases are heard and tried on the identified evidence. But because WE, the people turned a blind eye to all the Republican Party appointments to the judiciary since 1981 when they began stacking the courts at all levels with party loyalists instead of great jurists as was done in the past. Oh, I, like most of us paid attention to appointees to the Supreme Court, but didn't follow a single appointment to appellate or district level Federal Courts. Why should I care? I'm not a criminal and I thought my elected officers would deal with it.
I wish now I had the last 40 years to live over again.
Yes, we have a two tier justice system and it may be worse than that if a homeless man steals a can of soup because he is hungry and goes straight to jail because he does not have money for bail.
Agreed, but, I personally know of a homeless man who deliberately broke into a government office building stole a very, very, small amount of money and treats from desk drawers, made a half-ass attempt to break into the safe with a nail file, so he could spend the next six months in jail out of the cold and with daily food. I happened to come into the office early, (six am), discovered him asleep on the floor and called the police. Sometimes they commit petty theft just to spend the winter out of the cold. That's not a blight on the legal system, it's a blight on us for not caring enough for our fellow humans to assure that all are fed and sheltered.
It is sad and we are the wealthiest nation on earth, making us very able to do much more for our citizens. I get angry every time I hear the phrase affordable health care for all. In other words , health insurance rates that fit most folks budgets. It is a shame that everyone does not just have health care, as a birthright as they have in many other countries. Here in the US it is health care for profit, instead of health care for the people. As long as it is a business focused on profit, it will never change.
It is unregulated capitalism a fault here, Jack. From 1933 until approximately 1973 capitalism was regulated and the system worked as designed. It wasn't classless, but to the best of my knowledge no where is there a classless system among any animals on Earth. Even ants and bees have classes.
What we had in the period was a fair shake for the vast majority. We had a few wealthy, but not obscenely wealthy people who were worth in the millions. The largest middle class the world has ever known. A smaller laboring class living at subsistence level and a very, very few, mostly male, dirt poor who traveled and lived as best they could in their relatively brief lives.
Business, whether corporate or small family owned did focus on profit but they had "stakeholders' instead of "shareholders". The stakeholders included their employees, their customers, and their communities.
All was well. But a few Republicans had an absolute hatred for Franklin Roosevelt whom they considered a traitor to his class. They believed firmly in an aristocracy and their main goal from 1935 on was to destroy all the safety nets the Democrats in Government had formed Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, under FDR, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid and the Civil Rights Act under LBJ.
Nixon did the best he could but he had criminal inclinations, so wasn't successful. Then along came Ronnie, a relatively handsome man with a very good voice and a second rate acing career on the big screen and TV, and very limited inteligence. He apparently appealed to women and some men who lacked an understanding of economics.
Reagan's supply side economics - which I don't think he understood because he always referred o it as trickle down - along with his hatred of unions, thus breaking up unions and deregulating as much as he could get through at the time. His dislike of unions apparently had something to do with his leadership of SAG (screen actors guild) he left the Democrats in a huff and joined the Republicans. (About the same time as his divorce from Jane Wyman) and subsequent marriage to Nancy.
From 1981 we have spiraled down to where we are today. Cuts in taxes on the wealthy and corporations did exactly as planned; redistribute the wealth from the vanishing middle class to the wealthy and wealthier.
We need, as Joe and Kamala have said, to put the train back on the tracks. Break up the monopolies (I hope starting in the food industry - food costs continue to soar up); tax the wealth not the income; build some kind of health care for all, and especially add mental health care. Yes some health insurance industries will go out of business. Tough patooties - they shouldn't have been so greedy.
It will take time, since it all has to be done lawfully through the legal system. And we know how long that will take.
We all need to have the courage to enforce the Constitution and the Law of the Land. Which will result in putting some favorite sons' asses in jail and stripping them of their ill gotten gains.
How long will it last? Who knows? The 'golden age of robber barons' lasted nearly sixty years. The good years of middle class and safety nets about forty years. The Ronnie babie to the trumpster/dumpster approaching fifty years. So maybe we're finally getting smarter.