The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
Anatole France
The point is that even theoretically just laws can lead to de facto injustice. But how much more injustice can result from laws that are rigged to begin with? That is the topic of a post by Bob Cesca on Huffpo. [1]
If an American citizen is caught cheating on their taxes, they’re fined and imprisoned; if an American citizen races up to a yellow light and it turns red just as they’re passing under it, they’re photographed without their permission and fined; if an American citizen talks about farting or nipples on the radio, they can be fined $325,000 by your federal government. Holy hell, it’s a federal offense to make a copy of a DVD or CD, whether you plan to sell it or not!
But the last four years have proved that it’s perfectly legal to go to war based on lies, fabricated evidence, propaganda, media manipulation; then to lie about its progress every step of the way; then to allow massive unregulated — practically encouraged — war profiteering at the taxpayer’s expense; then to ignore the international rules of warfare by permitting torture; then to ignore rational solutions for redeployment; then to cut the budget for veterans; and the list of trespasses against morality, decency, the Constitution, and the American way of life goes on and on and on.
The solution? Cesca suggests that we establish a war crimes commission to prosecute those who commit these war crimes–they are still roaming free today. Many of them are still running our government. Then Cesca comes full circle:
How about we start with a fine equal to the FCC fine for broadcast indecency? Every elected or politically appointed official found partly or mostly responsible for botching the war must pay $325,000 for each and every time they lied about the reasons for- or progress of the war. That might not seem like a lot to rich guys with rich guy pinkish-hued skin like Vice President Cheney, but it adds up, and, all idealism aside, it’s a start.
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