What is your definition of “justice/” Is it narrow, or broad? Is it entirely legalistic? One dictionary definition: “the quality of conforming to principles of reason, to generally accepted standards of right and wrong, and to stated terms of laws, rules, agreements, etc, in matters affecting persons who could be wronged or unduly favored. 2] rightfulness or lawfulness, as of a claim.” A thesaurus: 1} “see fairness” – Impartiality, decency, honesty, truth, clarity, tolerance, balance, moderation, civility, reasonableness, rationality, humanity, equitableness, open-mindedness, benevolence; 2] lawfulness, equity, rightfulness, legitimacy, validity, constitutionality, legality.”
What jumps out here is the multiple parts of “justice.” Certainly legalistic and constitutional; but also reason, right and wrong, not being unduly favored. And – decency, honesty, truth, charity, balance, humanity, and open-mindedness. By these definitions, in a perfect world, should one go to a court of law, any decision should be composed of several factors. We start with law – assuming the law itself is impartial, not “unduly favoring” somebody. What is the court’s decision? Is there any charity, humanity, and open-mindedness? If this was us, could we accept this verdict? Did the verdict follow “principles of reason?” Is the judge in front of us a “Solomon?” Or – is he/she a “hanging judge?” Did we get “a fair shake” here?
The moral foundation of the United States was set forth in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that amoung these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness..”
This was followed by the Preamble to the Constitution: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure Domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..”
These sacred words implied many levels of “justice” and “Fair play.” Certainly legal and constitutional. If “all men are created equal,” then logic implies social justice to enable that. “The pursuit of happiness,” without question, implies government policies enabling people to achieve it.
Economic justice is obviously intended. “Happy ” people have a chance to find work. “Domestic tranquility” would allow an economy to flourish. “Promoting the general Welfare” would be actively involved in aiding positive economic conditions. “Justice” would mean a fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work.
Wendell Willkie, 1944: “The Constitution does not provide for first and second class citizens.” James Madison, Federalist #51: “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.” Thomas Jefferson, 1816: “I believe..that {justice} is instinct and innate, that the moral sense is as much a part of our Constitution as that of feeling, seeing, or hearing.”
Clearly, “justice” in America means more than the cold words of a law written on a cold piece of paper. Willkie states the obvious – nobody is second class in America. “The of government” and “the end of civil society” can only mean a government, a society, an economy exist only to “promote the general welfare” of all 330 million Americans. Jefferson believes we’re born with the justice instinct “to do right,:” but collectively need the “moral sense” to make sure “justice” prevails.
But we haven’t always lived up to these scared thoughts. Our failures have been monumental and well known. Our original sin, embedded in the Constitution itself, was enslaving people kidnapped from Africa. Our second original sin was the near extermination of Native Americans. Henry David Thoreau, 1844: “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the only true place for a just man is also prison.” He had few takers.
Two of the worst Supreme Court decisions were “Dred Scott” and “Plessy-v-Ferguson,” defending slavery and segregation. The American government broke every treaty signed with Native Americans, later didn’t fully pay for oil taken from their lands. Some of the greatest 20th century Americans were Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Muhammed Ali. They first endured persecution and humiliation. Only much later were they seen as heroes. They had one thing in common beside skin color – all they were asking for was simple justice.
We’ve had several infamous moments of war time insanity. During World War I, German-Americans were persecuted; guilty of being identified with the real German Germans we were fighting in Europe. This was followed by our first Red Scare – looking for Bolsheviks. During World War II, we had the racially motivated internment of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast. Falsely accused of aiding the real Japanese who’d bombed Pearl Harbor, 110,000 innocents were put into “camps.” The infamous “Korematsu” Supreme Court decision supporting this travesty. While their families were locked up, a Japanese-American unit fighting in Europe was the most decorated unit of the war. Nisei language specialists in the Pacific were credited with saving 1 million lives and shortening the war by 2 years.
Our post-World War II communist scare included the infamous “McCarthyism” period. Thousands unjustly lost jobs, were blacklisted, and persecuted. Griffin Fariello’s “Red Scare, Memories of an American Inquisition:” and Herbert Mitgang’s “Dangerous Dossiers, Exposing the Secret War Against America’s Greatest Authors” provide tragic details of some of the many lives ruined by one lying ambitious politician and his enablers.
But you don’t need to read books – you can just read daily newspapers. 2018 America has the current version of ” the Red Scare.” This episode is atrocities committed against Muslim-Americans. Somehow, these citizens are, in some minds, connected to 9/11 and subsequent Taliban-ISIS Middle Eastern atrocities. The fact that some Muslim-Americans are risking their lives is apparently irrelevant. So the cycle churns on. More irrational injustice.
The above examples reveal that “justice” doesn’t just come from courts or government policies. More importantly, it comes from what Jefferson said we’re born with. Lincoln would have said “the better angels of our nature.”
Much of the hysteria during the above incidents came from misinformation and false accusations. In the current age of rampant falsities on the internet [is there more false than true content?], some from the Russians and other enemies, much of the fault is our own. The Russians can put lies out there. The question is then: why are some of us so ready to believe this garbage? The Russians didn’t attack innocent people. Americans did that for them. The Russians didn’t vote for or against somebody on the basis of lies. Americans did that for them.
The Russians, and other enemies have won so far. They’ve got us at each others throats. Without firing a shot, the Russians have gained huge benefits in weakening the one organization that defended Western civilization against them for 70 years – N.A.T.O. We helped them do it.
The Russians are winning this contest – because they got us to violate one of our own most sacred democratic principles: simple justice. A house divided against itself cannot stand. A football team divided against itself will not win. We once said: “united we stand.”
Little school children say the following: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Adults will continue to forget this at the risk of our united peril.
Are you asking questions? Real fact-based questions? Questions NOT based around the latest “news” from the internet? Facebook and Twitter are removing millions of suspicious accounts. Facebook has hired thousands of people to do this. The latest technique is doctored videos – you can expect to see a person you dislike soon doing some supposedly evil thing in one. If the internet is your primary “news” source, with maybe a 50-50 chance of the truth, how do you know when you’ve been manipulated? People, right now , are confronting celebrities, angry their love notes haven’t been reciprocated – problem was they divorced their spouse for nothing, an impersonator was the real “celebrity who was supposedly “in love” with them. Seven people in India were murdered by a mob – false viral message. Germany has 1,200 Facebook agents removing hate speech. Are you asking questions?
Did Mexicans,Muslims, colored minorities ship your job overseas? Seriously? Did they cause the 2008-xx min-depression? Did they raise the price of drugs your Mom needs? Did they poison your grandmother with bad peanut butter? Are they cheating your pay envelope? Seriously? If all 330 million Americans don’t have”justice” who REALLY is behind that? Not everybody’s pay has stagnated since 1973. Who REALLY has the economic-political power? Who has the ability to give millions to political candidates? If labor unions and government are weakened, WHO benefits? WHO decided to end the historic American middle class 1947-73 golden age? WHO had the ability to do it? It wasn’t the Mexicans, Muslims, colored minorities, Native Americans, Japanese-Americans, commies, socialists. THINK. Start asking logical, fact-based, peer-reviewed, internationally accepted fact-based questions. When you do, justice will emerge.
With Justice For All 