America Has Become a ‘Nation Without Laws’ for the Rich and Powerful

I am offended by headlines that report, “someone has possibly broken the law.” I also detest “someone who is guilty of a crime but is now filing a lawsuit to halt the investigation.” What these types of headlines are saying, in reality, is, “someone definitely broke the law, but because they have money and power, they are above the laws of the United States of America.” The fourth estate, given Constitutional protection under the law, and charged with exposing corruption in Washington, have failed America since 1981. It should no longer receive protection under the Law of the Land.

Let’s look at a recent event and one of the greatest crimes ever committed by a former president. Trump’s residence inside his Mar-a-Lago resort was raided under a search warrant, and they discovered boxes of documents missing from the White House. They have been reported to contain classified documents as secretive as information related to America’s nuclear arsenal.

On January 20, 2021, Trump was no longer the president. However, when he left the White House for the last time, he took with him at least 15 boxes of documents meant for the national archives. It is illegal, a violation of the Espionage Act, to remove any of those documents.

A couple of months later, Trump claimed that he had returned them to Washington. The truth is, he only returned some of the classified information. This was the reason for the recent raid. The FBI did indeed find boxes of material he hid from them for more than a year.

These are crimes so severe that any regular citizen who committed a similar crime would have immediately been placed in handcuffs and placed in a federal detention facility. In 1953, the Rosenbergs were strapped into the electric chair for similar crimes against America. But not Donald “the Traitor” Trump. His crimes are undeniable and egregious, but he has filed a lawsuit, and the FBI is allowing him this process. No other man or woman in America would have been given such a ‘courtesy.’ I say, “lock him up.”

Then there’s the Governor of South Dakota. The headline reads: “SD Gov. Kristi Noem may have ‘engaged in misconduct.’” This woman, who has kissed Trump’s humongous derriere since inauguration day, 2017, either committed a crime or she did not, period.

A South Dakota ethics board determined that Noem “engaged in misconduct” when she influenced the real estate commission when her daughter applied for a real estate appraiser’s license. She has also been accused of illegal and improper use of the state’s private aircraft designed exclusively for the office of the governor.

There have been other allegations of impropriety. The former attorney general of South Dakota, Jason Ravnsborg, also a Republican, filed complaints about media investigations into actions that, if proven, are illegal.

Once again, if the accusations have credence and there is even an iota of proof, why has she not been charged?

Throughout modern history, Republicans have never paid for their crimes. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were never charged for their involvement in the “Iran-Contra Affair.” George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld were never charged for lying to congress and the American people about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or the subsequent war, which cost tens of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. War crimes were involved. Donald Trump remains free, although the evidence is overwhelming that he alone organized, planned, and executed a failed coup on January 6, 2021. He is also guilty of dozens of additional crimes, including “dereliction of duty” related to the pandemic.

The rich and powerful never receive fair punishment for their crimes, while the poor are punished to the fullest extent of the law. Republicans deny the fact that poverty all too often results in crime. But they eagerly place low-income and impoverished Americans in prison for years and even decades.

Once again, for those of you who do not like to read, the government of the United States is the most corrupt in the free world. Trust no one, and believe in nothing. The 545 men and women who rule over us place themselves in priority number one, regardless of politics. They no longer ‘serve’ the American people: they rule over us.

“Doing the right thing,” the “golden rule,” means setting aside your own needs and wishes and taking action to provide for the common good. Few Americans in history have adhered to this principle without hesitation and even fewer politicians.

“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.” Potter Stewart.

“No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man’s permission when we ask him to obey it.” Theodore Roosevelt

By James Turnage, Novelist

Sources:

The Hill: Board: SD Gov. Kristi Noem may have ‘engaged in misconduct;’ by Stephen Groves
The Hill: Trump sues to stall FBI probe, asks for ‘special master’ to review Mar-a-Lago documents; by Rebecca Beitsch

Featured and Top Image Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead Courtesy of DVIDS – Public Domain License
Inset Image US Army Reserve Photo by Spc. Jamaal Turner Courtesy of DVIDS – Public Domain License