Rule of Law
On the playground in fourth grade is where it all starts.
A rule is laid down concerning kickball, defining the boundary of a foul ball.
Most of the kids understand.
A few take that rule and write it in stone.
It's the beginning of a lifetime of two outwardly similar individuals living under two different expectations.
The heart of the law and the letter of the law.
The letter of the law says you can't cross the street when the light is against you.
The heart of the law says I'm rushing to the bathroom before I have an accident.
The letter of the law person believes you should fill your pants; those are the rules.
The letter is hard.
The heart is soft.
Two different types of people living side by side in the same office, the same job, the same family.
It's almost 5 o'clock. I'll go home now.
I have to wait till after 5 before I clock out.
Rules have to be obeyed, or society will break apart.
Rules are ethical up to a point, but circumstance has to be taken into account.
The heart of the law, individuals will always jump to the end of the book and read the last page.
The letter of the law, individuals will dutifully read each and every page till they get to the end.
No skipping.
The heart of the law person will play their music loud after 10 pm because they are in the mood.
The letter of the law person will call the police and report a noise violation.
The heart doesn't temper its designs with practicality; it jumps.
It is emotional; it rushes to the end, knowing its conclusion is correct because it feels it.
It feels it.
The letter takes each step in a decision with precision, with effort, step by step, the procedure followed by procedure, never making a judgment until all the facts are known.
Neither is helpful.
Neither has a grasp on reality.
Neither helps move humanity towards a better day.
Each, in its own unique way, keeps on holding humanity back from advancing.
Advancing towards a better day, towards a real brotherhood of man.
Each can learn a lot from the other.
The letter needs to be tempered and internalized, as circumstance plays a significant role in all of our decisions.
The heart needs to develop the patience to let all the facts come out before proclaiming what is right and what is wrong.
Our nation has been wrestling with the letter and the heart of the law for a good long while now.
Who is the law for?
Who is the law against?
Who does the law work for?
The President believes he is above the law of the United States, which he represents.
There are people in the House and Senate and in the media who agree with him.
They believe that the Constitution is in error.
They believe that the President sets what is real and what isn't real.
My question is, what happened to law and order?
What happened that so many of our representatives believe they are exempt from the laws that they write?
The laws that the administration is to enforce.
The laws that the judiciary is to adjudicate.
How can they defend injustice?
How can they exempt themselves from justice?
How can they support criminality?
How can political tyranny within a party be justified?
What happened to all those individuals who believed in the letter and the heart of the law?
They may have been stick-in-the-muds, but they could be counted on to do the right thing when everything was said and done.
What is it that binds them to this President, who shall go unnamed?
They are so tightly wound about this President that they would abandon their rigid principles of law.
Case in point...
Secretary and Ambassador John Bolton.
Has a point of view.
A person who has expressed a belief in the rule of law.
A person who worked with and around a group of people who do not believe in the American Experiment.
He traveled and networked with people in this administration who looked to subvert the Constitution to maintain their power and accumulate personal wealth.
Is he okay with this?
Has he also been corrupted?
I say this all in bewilderment because what was up is now down, and what was down is up.
Republicans and Democrats have traditionally disagreed with each other over how to cut or raise taxes.
Not how much of the Constitution they were going to agree with or burn.
A real palpable sickness has entered into the minds and hearts of our conservative brothers and sisters.
It may be caused by a weariness of our rocket-speed societal changes.
A weariness caused by the stress of too much too fast.
With no way of digesting and integrating change into their lives.
Conservatives, liberals.
Tortoise and rabbits.
Slow, fast.
Different but two outward-facing ideals of the same coin.
Conservatives and liberals don't see eye to eye because they are back to back.
They need each other more than they know.
Conservatives in our nation have a fever.
We liberals need to show our compassion and be the hope that they need.
We have to lift the hate they're holding onto.
We have to reach out and demonstrate that we can walk the walk and talk the talk.
We have to let them know we have their backs.
We have to support them and help them see past their fear.
We just can't sit around and hope things will be better.
We can't have just the letter or just the heart of the law.
Reconcile and find the truth together.
That's how democracy heals.
That's how freedom rings.
That's how justice sings.
That's how hope works.
Be the hope.
Peace
Daniel J Frey aka Toby