No More Rule Of Law
By Dr. Harold A. Black
blackh@knoxfocus.com
haroldblackphd.com
I am probably the last to admit it but we are in trouble as a country. We have become more polarized than at any point in our history save the Civil War. All the polls indicate that the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans differ on virtually every issue. Those differences are intractable with no compromise offered and none acceptable. I have noted before that one of my good friends is gleeful over the Trump indictments. I have reminded him that what goes around comes around and when the Republicans are back in power, it will be tit for tat. It doesn’t matter to him as long as Trump keeps getting persecuted.
Yet it bodes ill for the rest of the country. Biden’s Department of “Justice” has weaponized its components against his political adversaries. We now have a two-tiered justice system. Once it was white against black and now it’s Biden against the conservatives. Trump’s supporters have been raided and indicted. The January 6 “insurrection” had resulted in a seeming suspension of habeas corpus, incredibly long prison terms and fines while the destructive rioters of Black Lives Matter get compensation. Trump’s classified documents case is serious but is it as serious as Hilary Clinton’s email erasures and use of a nonsecured email account? Is it as serious as Biden’s classified documents being found in his garage, in his University of Pennsylvania center and at his beach house? Biden’s administration is harassing gun dealers, revoking their licenses. It has pressured banks to cancel the accounts of conservative groups. It has arrested abortion opponents while not prosecuting those who torch anti-abortion counseling centers. When the Republicans come back into the presidency, they will likely do the same to the left. We will then spiral downward into retribution upon retribution levied on the other side.
We have lost respect for our most important institutions. Our Republican form of government designed to counter the tyranny of the majority is under attack. The Supreme Court is being vilified and politicized. We have lost trust in our system of justice. The FBI and IRS are now political weapons against the opposition. Local DAs pursue political opponents on trumped-up charges with flimsy foundations. Political organizations are being labeled as hate groups and as white supremacists simply because they oppose parental rights being subordinated to local school systems indoctrinating their children.
When I was a senior in high school, the first two black students at the University of Georgia faced opposition to their admission. After the court ordered them admitted to the university, a mob gathered on campus outside the dormitory of Charlayne Hunter Gault. Hamilton Holmes lived off campus. Although the mob never physically assaulted the dorm, the university said that it could not protect them and expelled the black students “for their own safety.” The court immediately ordered them re-admitted and the governor of the state called out the national guard. When Hamilton and Charlayne returned so did the mob outside her dorm. Only this time the National Guard was there and the mob soon dissipated. Also, the governor went on TV and said that the ordered integration of the university marked the saddest day of his life but “in Georgia we obey the law.”
That respect for the law no longer exists. Now Joe Biden condemns Supreme Court rulings and orders his departments to find ways around them. He condemned the Dobbs decision on abortion and allows the Pentagon to pay to let service members get abortions in less restrictive states. He orders the Department of Education to find ways around the court’s ruling on student debt. He hosts meetings to find ways to get around the court’s ruling on affirmative action. He and his administration are openly defying the Supreme Court. This would have never happened in my generation. Imagine what would have been the consequences of openly defying the Supreme Court’s ruling on Brown v. Board of Education which ended “separate but equal” and led to the integration of the public schools. Or the voters rights legislation? Or the civil rights legislation? Or even the court’s rulings on Roe versus Wade. I think it would have chaos and even open rebellion with blood in the streets.
I don’t wish to be an alarmist but all indications are that we are headed in that direction. With our leaders instituting a two-tiered “justice” system and openly defying Supreme Court rulings, the civility and respect for the law that has bound our country of disparate groups together is being frayed and will likely break. If the president of the United States has no respect for the rule of law then how can it be demanded of its citizens?
