Where's the Justice? ... J. D. Longstreet

Where's the Justice?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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The story is told of a young Confederate soldier who committed an infraction of the Confederate Army's rules and regulations.  He had, in some fashion, disobeyed an order.  Whatever the infraction, it was bad enough that his commander, at the field level, thought if noxious enough that his case was ordered up the chain of command until the soldier was escorted to the command headquarters tent of General Robert E. Lee, the Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. 

The young soldier was literally shaking in fear as the officer sat him down to wait for the arrival of General Lee.  The officer, observing how distraught the young trooper was, said:  "Don't worry, son.  You'll get justice here." Whereupon, the young  soldier replied:  "I know, sir. That's what I am afraid of!"

What a different world we live in today! Our justice system is a muddled mess, to say the least.  Even our federal persecutors, arguably the creme de la creme of prosecuting attorneys in the country, seem to have a penchant for going to court with cases even a first year law student would hesitate laying out before a jury.  And when they lose, their bosses go before the microphones and lauds them for the wonderful case they put on. 

OK.  Maybe its just me -- AGAIN, but I have difficulty lauding losers.  Seems to me the old expression:  "Show me a good loser -- and I will show you A LOSER" applies here."   Kinda makes me wonder if it's all this "feel good about yourself" horse hockey promoted in our public education system for the past couple of decades, or so.  If so, it sure paid off -- now didn't it?

Look.  Feeling good about yourself is NOT all it's cracked up to be. 

OK.  Now that I have the attention of all you pseudoshrinks and psychologists out there, allow me, please, to explain where I'm coming from.

Self-esteem is a wonderful thing.  It is also self destructive and can cause great harm to those in the company of a person over-endowed with great quantities of self-esteem.  As evidence, I give you one Barack Hussein Obama, the President of the United States. 

The Prez's self-esteem is unarguably OFF THE CHARTS!  The man is a narcissist to the "nth" degree. His over-blown self-esteem has left a mile-wide swath of devastation in his wake and has burdened the country with a yoke of debt that even my great-grand children will be working their entire lives to help pay off. (So will yours!)

I once read a statement and, for the life of me, I have no memory who said it, but it was something like this:  "Ever notice that when things go dreadfully wrong, and a threat to life and limb is eminent, amidst all the panic, all the confusion, someone steps forward who has all the right answers and knows EXACTLY what to do to rescue everyone?  Ever notice how often that person is  INSANE?"

I don't have a clue who said it, nor where, but the wisdom wrapped around that chuckle is awesome.  I readily admit to a moment of hilarity when first I read it.  Then, I began to think about that pearl of wisdom beneath the instant humor. 

Humans are, I am assured, social animals.  We live together in packs -- much the same as wolves.  And there is a pecking order, again, much the same as wolves. The leader is a male wolf, a so-called "alpha" male. Turns out the alpha wolf is the cur with the biggest self esteem and the wherewithal to back it up.

Every now an again, a male wolf, by virtue of his self-esteem makes it into the leadership position, only to learn, when another alpha comes along, that his "wherewithal' was not, er, "with" him, but with his antagonist. 

He is quickly beaten and run off. Amongst humans we call this -- politics.  Here in America, we go through this little uh, "urinating" contest every four years.  We are suffering through one even as I write.

It becomes embarrassingly obvious to the pack fairly quickly when their new alpha has more self-esteem than wherewithal.  Usually, the human pack is aware of the shortcoming long before the alpha has a clue.
That happened in America a little over three and a half years ago.  Unfortunately, our alpha STILL doesn't suspect that which the remainder of the pack knows -- all too well.  My friends in Texas have an expression which covers it adequately, I think:  "All hat -- and no cattle."  And yes, we DID attempt to alert America back in 2007 when  we described Mr. Obama as an "empty suit" and declared that "there was no THERE there." 

The results of the 2008 election only proved that a great number of Americans wanted to see that which they truly WANTED to see.

In any event, we have an administration made up folks hand-picked by our "alpha."  It is a great "cluster calamity."  

Take our Justice Department, for instance.

The young Confederate soldier I noted at the beginning of this missive, I suspect, would not be nearly as nervous were he outside Attorney General Eric Holder's office. 

Unlike the Americans of the 19th century, we have lost sight of "justice" in the 21st century.  It is more than a little telling when the highest justice officer in the land, is, himself, held in Contempt of Congress by the US House of Representatives (Its the first time in the history of the country that THAT has happened.) and his department, the US Justice Department, is the target of a congressional investigation.

The United States has, some say, more of its citizens in jail than any other nation.  I won't argue with that. Unfortunately, our liberal friends latch onto that factoid and scream injustice.   They are WRONG.

The US is, or USED to be, a constitutional republic.  We are, or we USED to be, a nation of laws.  The bedrock of our system of justice is the constitution.  All laws must past the test of being constitutional else they are null and void in America. 

America asks very little of its citizens.  The primary thing Americans are asked to do is -- obey the law. Failing that, lawbreakers are segregated from the rest of us -- in jail.

It is all very simple.  The people of the United States pass constitutional laws by way of their national legislature, which is elected by the people to do just that. The American society, indeed, the American constitutional representative form of government can only exist under the rule of law.

President Obama understands the importance of the rule of law in America as does Attorney General Holder.  Their reluctance to assist in an investigation of a failed government sting operation that resulted in the death of an American citizen is totally outside the realm of credulity. They know better! Their obfuscation is a stain on the respective offices they hold.

Remember that "self-esteem" problem we noted above?  This, in my estimation, is a prime example of what happens when there is a clash between an excess of self-esteem and reality.  It is extremely serious and could lead to a constitutional crisis for the country.

Both men, Obama and Holder, should be impeached, forthwith.

J. D. Longstreet