A Land where the Law is King. . . . Is it just an impossible dream?

[annabanana]

Is "The last, best, hope on Earth" forever beyond our reach?-

Will there ever be a place where no man is above the Law?

As it looks less and less likely that the brazen lawbreakers, the warmongers, the torturers, the despots will be called to account, here in America. . the Country "of the People, by the People and for the People". . .I fall further into despondency.

Was is just a fevered dream?. . this dream of a land where no one can be "disappeared" on the word of a powerful man?

If we cannot hold them to account HERE, in the Land of the Free, what chance has the rest of the world, whose histories are all packed with tyrants, where total power has nearly always rested in a single, all powerful ruler?

[bean fidhleir]

1. The late anthro Marvin Harris said something very insightful (I thought)

at the end of his book about our current dystopia. The book is called Why Nothing Works, but someone seems to have "borrowed" my copy so I'll have to quote from memory:

Fighting back against dystopic forces doesn't guarantee that we'll win, but it changes the odds. We'll be 100% doomed only when the last of us loses heart and gives up the struggle to create a good world. As long as that doesn't happen - we can win.

[annabanana]

2. Thank you.

I will probably go down fighting. Maybe my grandchildren will see this mythical land.

[bean fidhleir]

7. You're more than welcome, believe me

As to going down fighting, me too if I must. But, like General Patton, I think it would be better to make the exploiters die for *their* beliefs. How about you?

And change might be closer than we think. I don't know about you, but over these past 8 years I've heard an increasing rumbling noise coming from people I've chatted with. It stopped for a moment with Obama's election, but it's started up again now that he seems to have shown his true colors. I'm hearing a lot of people saying some variation on "this shit's got to *cease*".

[suston96]

3. I thought about this for a while but....I don't want the law to be "king"...

"The rule of law"? I cannot grab hold of that either. Why? Because the power of the people transfers over to the courts, judges and lawyers and the rest of the legal system. And that has historically been turned into the rule by the rich and powerful.

I prefer the rule by the people. We, the People. That is how our Constitution starts. When We, the People start making perfect laws then I will accept the rule of law as - uh - king.

King? Damn, I hate monarchies.

[annabanana]

4. Until the Magna Carta, Kingdoms was all there was... There was no choice.

If you have a government where one man's word can imprison and kill you, and you are without recourse or a fair chance to prove your innocence.. You are subject to Tyranny. You have nothing.

[suston96]

5. You quoted Lincoln - of, by, and for the people - same speech: a new birth of freedom....

This is the first nation founded not by the divine right of kings but by the right of the people to govern themselves.

And what is government? Laws made by the people. Just laws that treat all the people equally. I repeat: we don't have that. We have never had that. The US Constitution in 1787 left over half of the population unprotected and continued the abomination of slavery.

Until there is equal and just treatment under the law then the supremacy of the law cannot be accepted. At least not by me.

[Peace Patriot]

6. South America.

"If we cannot hold them to account HERE, in the Land of the Free, what chance has the rest of the world, whose histories are all packed with tyrants, where total power has nearly always rested in a single, all powerful ruler?"

------

Contrary to the propaganda of our corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies, Bushwhacks and collusive 'Democrats,' democracy is alive and well in South America, where leftist (majorityist) governments have been elected in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile--an overwhelming, peaceful, democracy movement that is now moving into Central Amercia (leftist governments elected in Nicaragua and Guatemala; Honduras leaning left; El Salvador likely going left this year; and probably Mexico in the next election cycle).

Some marked characteristics of the many countries that have elected leftist governments: transparent vote counting (U.S. voters, take note!), strong grass roots political activity and social movements, AND bringing the murderers and torturers of previous U.S. supported dictatorships to account, even if it takes decades of effort, investigation and prosecution.

Where is democracy and the rule of law prospering? In the very countries where Exxon Mobil & brethren claim there are "dictatorships."

I think you are suffering from myopia, in this anguished cry about our own corpo/fascist junta. I sympathize with your anguish, but I think we have some fine models, to the south, for how to recover from corp/fascist rule. Number one, top priority, something we MUST DO: restore transparent vote counting!