When I went to law school in 1998, I had a law school professor who told us, “The first thing you have to understand is that it (the U.S. legal process) is not about fairness.” I didn’t believe him. I bought the line that, while one person may not be able to make big changes, they can make small ones. But those days are gone. Every one of the three branches of U.S. government, at every level, set out by the Constitution has been perverted and poisoned to such an extent that it is effectively anything but what it was meant to be. Every method and process developed to achieve or maintain the ideals is utterly broken. But … and this matters … the ideas and ideals remain and one day, perhaps after great suffering, we may find a way to apply them and use them in all new ways that allow them to breathe and grow as they were intended to do. But the old way may have to collapse entirely before that occurs. Or, perhaps, the Second Coming and the real kingdom.
Thank you for the comment. I know that I'm hardwired about fairness. Apparently it's very linked to my temperament. That said, I also associate fairness with childhood. "But that's not fair!" The true measure of fairness being in the mind of a six-year-old. Occasionally, I still have to pull myself back from the gut cry about things not being fair. In the last part of your comment, you point to what I see as the building blocks -- "the ideas and ideals remain' (I think of Ted Kennedy speech at the 1980 Democratic convention) and there is the Christian Hope that it is God that brings all things to perfection. I like to think of the Holy Spirit at work in each of us, nudging us toward kindness, self control, mercy, perseverance, humility.
When I went to law school in 1998, I had a law school professor who told us, “The first thing you have to understand is that it (the U.S. legal process) is not about fairness.” I didn’t believe him. I bought the line that, while one person may not be able to make big changes, they can make small ones. But those days are gone. Every one of the three branches of U.S. government, at every level, set out by the Constitution has been perverted and poisoned to such an extent that it is effectively anything but what it was meant to be. Every method and process developed to achieve or maintain the ideals is utterly broken. But … and this matters … the ideas and ideals remain and one day, perhaps after great suffering, we may find a way to apply them and use them in all new ways that allow them to breathe and grow as they were intended to do. But the old way may have to collapse entirely before that occurs. Or, perhaps, the Second Coming and the real kingdom.
Thank you for the comment. I know that I'm hardwired about fairness. Apparently it's very linked to my temperament. That said, I also associate fairness with childhood. "But that's not fair!" The true measure of fairness being in the mind of a six-year-old. Occasionally, I still have to pull myself back from the gut cry about things not being fair. In the last part of your comment, you point to what I see as the building blocks -- "the ideas and ideals remain' (I think of Ted Kennedy speech at the 1980 Democratic convention) and there is the Christian Hope that it is God that brings all things to perfection. I like to think of the Holy Spirit at work in each of us, nudging us toward kindness, self control, mercy, perseverance, humility.
That’s just what I meant.