Do you remember that movie ‘The Firm’ where a law enforcement agency suspected that a prestigious law firm was breaking some major laws so they forced a young lawyer employed by the firm to help them secure information they needed to indict and prosecute the responsible executives?

Even if you don’t, try to follow me anyway because there is a point that I want to make that is exemplified by that movie and many others like it.  Anyway, this law enforcement agency was able to force this young lawyer to help them because they had incarcerated his brother who would face a lot of years in prison unless he cooperated with them; and if he cooperated, his brother would be released and his record would be completely cleared.

The truth of the matter was that the law enforcement agency had no real intentions of releasing the brother.  The plan was to release him for a short period of time as a show of good faith and once they had the documents that they needed they would put him back in prison to complete his term.

The young lawyer agreed to cooperate but somewhere along the way found out about their plans so demanded to renegotiate the deal and, because of their attempt to scam him, also demanded that a large sum of money for himself be included.  The law enforcement agency agreed to the new terms but planned to stick to their original plan to place the brother back in prison with the only new part of their plan being to take back the money as well.

By now you might be thinking, how is this story in any way related to politics?  Here is how.  My point is wrapped up in what this law enforcement official said to the young lawyer when he became concerned that he was on to them again and about to outsmart them.  When the young lawyer demanded that the money be wired to an offshore numbered account ahead of time the official exploded in anger.  This is what he said when the lawyer refused to withdraw this demand; and what he said is also my point.

I’m the government.  I can kick your teeth down your throat and pull them out of your backside (he used a more colorful word) and there’s not a (expletive delete) thing that you can do about it.  When the young lawyer showed the law enforcement official that he had recorded his words on a tape housed in a remote location, the official calmed down and agreed to wire the money.

In other movies like ‘The Firm’ many law enforcement officials have made the well worn ‘I’m the law’ statement.  Unfortunately, many of these officials have come to believe that they are the law personified and not an instrument that is there to enforce the law.  And since they are ‘the law’, it applies to everyone else but not to them.

This is not something that happens just with low-level law enforcement officials but instead ranges from the most low-level local official to law-enforcement officials at the highest levels in the United States government.  As a matter of fact, it is not just law enforcement officials but many other powerful officials as well who are exacerbating and perpetuating this problem.

I gave this particular example because there was a time when most of us looked at movies like these as unquestionably pure theatrical entertainment.  But take a close look at what is happening in our country right now and the rhetoric in those movies no longer seem so far-fetched.

There are two key situations that are at the forefront right now, one of which symbolizes a deep-seated American problem that is playing out in a number of cities around our country.  The other is something that is wrapped in a domestic and foreign policy wrapper.  One is associated with race and the other is associated with torture.  Despite what might appear to be a great gap between them, they are both deep-rooted in human rights and who we are as Americans.

In both of these cases the words political decision seems to be a common thread and it appears that these officials also expect to be placed above the law.  Don’t you get tired of hearing the words ‘it was a political decision’ from pundits?  Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear the words ‘it was a governance decision’ being tossed around by them at least as often as ‘it was a political decision’?

Politicians like the perks of the office.  They like the photo ops, the admiration of their constituents, the special treatment that they receive and making the easy decisions.  But when it comes to the tough decisions that they were also elected to handle – like indicting a cop and assuring that the indictment process is fair or confronting the problem that we need to address concerning torture and, if they are different, the enhanced interrogation techniques, they cower and refuse to do their job.  They take the easy way out and make a ‘political decision.’

I guess we can’t blame them because if they confront these things and make an actual governance decision, they might not be reelected.  And if they are not reelected, they will no longer have a platform to not confront problems like those in Ferguson and the one regarding torture.  Wouldn’t that be a shame?

America must address and solve tough problems like those mentioned or, rather than us controlling our own destiny, those problems might play a key role in the outcome.  As voters we can force politicians to do their job, including the unpleasant parts of it, or be fired.  It is as simple as that.  But in order for that to happen, we must first do our job.

Eulus Dennis