Anytime that people without money and power challenge the rich and powerful, the chance that those without money and power will prevail is slim-to-none. If I could come up with a phrase that represented something less than slim-to-none without it meaning absolute zero, I would; but those without money and power do win at least once out of every ‘some unimaginably large and scary number to even envision.’
One of the main reasons why this is the case is because the rich and powerful created the system and, of course, they skewed it to favor the rich and powerful. Our whole system of justice is built on a foundation of money. As usual, it is always about the money. It seems that if you follow the money all the way through, ultimately, you will always find the true answer.
You see, if you want a top-of-the-line (expensive) lawyer, you have to have money. If you need to do research, you have to have money. If the other side’s attorneys bury your side’s attorneys in unwarranted paperwork as a result of ‘Discovery’, you have to have money. If the case is long and drawn out due to appeals or for whatever reason, you have to have money; and the list goes on.
The rich and powerful know this and they never fail to use it to their advantage. If you are looking for a judge that will see through the antics of those rich and powerful people that you have challenged and who are blatantly guilty of the allegations that you have leveled against them, you are out of luck. Judges have a job to do based on the law and they are sworn to do that job so are going to do it. It does not matter that they may know that your side is right and that the other side is guilty as alleged. What matters is proof. And if your attorneys cannot prove your allegations are true, then you will lose.
The system is obviously rigged in favor of the rich and powerful and until something is done to level the playing field the few will continue to dominate the many. The playing field can be leveled but, aside from non-violent civil disobedience, efforts to level it should be made within the law. And even the non-violent civil disobedience should not be the first resort.
This whole money-based approach that we seem to take to everything in our country is deep-seated in our politics. Our political system is a money-based system that currently requires our politicians to depend too heavily on the rich and powerful in order to be elected or to continue to hold the office that they are already in. This gives the rich and powerful (the few) far too much leverage over those without money and power (the many) and, thereby, allows them to control our politicians and be king makers.
This should not be the case and we, as American voters, can put a stop to it simply by getting and staying informed on political issues, elected officials and candidates that are running for elected positions and then exercising our right to vote. Until we do this, politicians will continue to smile at us and say all of the things that we want to hear while continuing to kowtow to billionaires and millionaires. They will be our ‘Lonesome Rhodes’ that smile at us to our face and laugh uncontrollably at us behind our backs.
A good example of this and an eye-opener is the 2016 presidential campaign. The rich and powerful folks are sorting through the candidates and winnowing the field, which use to be the job of early voting states. Once the field of candidates has been narrowed down to the final two, they will start their process of trying to pick the winner by flooding the airwaves (which costs tons of money) with commercials favoring their candidate and tearing down the opponent.
As it stands, those politicians that are political puppets were responsible for setting up and reinforcing the money-driven election system that we are saddled with right now. American voters are the political pawns that far too many politicians use to achieve their political goals and further their political ambitions. And far too many of us American voters have willingly allowed ourselves to be used as political pawns by virtue of our complacency as regards politics, the meager value that we place on our right to vote and our failure to actually vote.
Although we reserve the right to complain about how unfair the system is, we should not complain if we are not willing to do our part to change things by voting; it has the appearance of diminishing our sincerity about what it is we are fighting for.
We can change things if we are willing to put in the time and effort. Let’s resolve to do that. This does not mean that things will then be exactly as we want them to be. But what it does mean is that we will have had our say and input into how we would like them to be. That is fair and all that one should really expect; the final outcome will be up to the will of the majority of the people who accept the responsibility of voting and take the time to actually do it.
And finally; whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!
Eulus Dennis