Are American ideals of fair play in the past?

 It is time to call our government to account. Many of us have talented young members of our families that many times are liberal. It is time to call them out!

There are (or should be) things on which we all agree - we have for hundreds of years. Surely we believe in a just and honest system of laws. Surely we don’t want a government that “punishes” their political opposition using the legal system. Surely in American, Democrats and Republicans alike believe in equal justice under law.

So, shouldn’t the folks accused of insurrection get a speedy and fair trial? Let us examine the facts and see what we see. I thank and credit in advance the reporting of Julie  Kelly in “American Greatness” dated March 15. All quotes in the following article are from that source.  By the way, anyone heard of an unarmed insurrection? (Not a single person inside the building was found to be armed! Did we know that?)

“The early hours of March 12, FBI agents in southwestern Florida barricaded a neighborhood to prepare to raid the home of one resident. Christopher Worrell, of Cape Coral, was arrested and charged with several counts related to the Jan. 6 capitol melee. Even though Worrell had been cooperating with the FBI for two months, the agency nonetheless unleashed a massive, and no doubt costly, display of force to take him into custody.

“Law enforcement agents, according to one neighbor who spoke with a reporter, wore ‘whole outfits . . . like military and it was crazy. There was like six or seven . . . big black vehicles. They busted down the front door.’ The raid included ‘armed men with helmets and a tanker truck’ and was partially executed by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

“Worrell never entered the capitol building on Jan. 6; he isn’t accused of committing a violent crime. But a D.C. judge overturned a Florida judge’s ruling to release Worrell pending further review of his case. He remains in jail.

“The capitol breach probe, the department’s official title, is a flagrant political prosecution targeting Trump supporters. Every display - from heavy-handed FBI raids to a militarized Washington, D.C. - is designed to portray the President Trump’s allies as domestic terrorists.”

The differences between how the government is handling the Jan. 6 defendants and other so-called protestors could not be more stark. For example, a Portland investigative reporter found the Justice Department has dropped more than one-third of the federal cases related to last summer’s riots in that city, with more to come. Only about a dozen people have been arrested for last week’s rioting in Portland, which included attacks on a federal courthouse.

But the violence in Portland is different, according to Merrick Garland, who said during his confirmation hearing the capitol attack was “domestic terrorism” because the Jan. 6 protestors attempted “to disrupt democratic processes.” The term doesn’t apply to attacks on the Portland courthouse, Garland claimed, because those only happen at night when court is out of session.

Lucky Antifa.

She goes on to explain that by requiring defendants to travel to Washington D.C. and then arresting and denying them bail, the government is leaning heavily on these ordinary men and women for daring to petition their government for redress, something our constitution strictly allows. Such constitutional constraint was exercised, in 2018, when during the Kavanaugh hearings, Democrat protestors accosted senators in elevators on their way to select the next supreme court justice, surely an official proceeding. The justice department is trying to use a white collar crime law to charge these people with a felony. They are denying bail based on the defendant’s belief that the election was invalid. Thusly, the argument goes, they cannot be allowed out of jail. And all of this is going on while violent criminals are being let out of prisons across the fruited plain. (Thanks, Rush!)

I ask my Democrat voters, is this kind of justice, Democrat justice? Is this kind of unequal treatment as just and honest as it ought to be? For hundreds of years, the American people have fought, bled, and died for the principle of equal justice under law. Is this worthy of the liberal belief system we all agreed to live by? Might we all, Democrats and Republicans, be in danger of becoming the slaves of corporate interests and big tech? Believe me, many of the Republicans, in Washington, had a lot more in common with their liberal Democrat friends than they had with President Trump. Would we all like to live in a one-party country without the threat of competition to keep government honest? And while we are at it, do we still desire honest government? This kind of unequal treatment should not be allowed to stand because it is scapegoating, and it is blatantly unfair. But will it stand?

With such a large case load, Washington D.C. is having “trouble” coming up with enough pro bono lawyers to furnish the defendants. I thought having a lawyer was a basic requirement for fairness, according to classic Democrat standards. But is that only for our political friends? Where does allowing this kind of government ultimately end? Not in more freedom for you and me! And no justice either!

As a result of these poor people having no lawyer and being denied bail given to folks far more dangerous then they,  we should all realize that kind of pressure might cause people to plead guilty to anything just in order to be given back their freedom. One can see how a case could be built against these unarmed protestors using coerced testimony of other defendants. Is that a just result?

As Americans, we all should hold ourselves and our political representatives to a far higher standard of conduct that we have yet seen displayed.

I am running  out of time and space, but allow me one more point. For we conservatives, we must hold our own representatives and fellow citizens to the high standards we claim to respect ourselves. There has been muttering about “fighting” for what is right. But we cannot, and we must not condone violence of any kind. The surest way to lose our support among all Americans, regardless of race, creed dolor, national origin, or political affiliation is to endorse or condone any kind of physical violence.  And anyway, to whom would we deliver violence? The hard working and honest men and women of the police force and our National Guard and Army? We must never condone even the mention of such ideas!

I beg of all of us to monitor our great country and guard our civil liberties for all of our citizens! In turn, we need the support of Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians. Surely, we all agree to fair play and honest dealings! We must put aside the divisions put upon us by outside or malign forces from within us that stoke violence and hatred and refuse to deal honestly. Remember, while a nation may vote in an oppressive government, getting untangled from one is often tragic. We must not pursue that terrible course! Until next week...