The Letter Of The Law

"In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the laws scrupulously. Our government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example."

--Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

Never were those words more applicable than today. Never have they been truer. We were once known as a nation of laws. Over the last several years, especially, our government's adherence to the values and the sacred documents of our nation has waned, drifting perilously close to the edge of oblivion as our Bill of Rights, Consitution and election laws have been whittled away in favor of granting increased power and secrecy to not only Federal government, but individual State governments as well.

Governor Blagojevich and his assistant John Harris have been arrested; Axelrod and Obama suddenly claim not to have had any dealings with either of them in spite of reports from several sources about meetings and phone calls between them in November and early December.

In the wake of the release of a 77 page Criminal Complaint, Chicago homicide detectives have requested the asssitance of Federal Prosecutor Fitzpatrick in obtaining phone records from Obama, Reverend Wright, Donald Young and others. Previous attempts to obtain these records in connection with the murder investigation of Donald Young were thwarted by the Chicago Police Department and Mayor Daley's office.

In recent years we have seen a massive breakdown in the willingness to abide by our laws in some sectors. Although the majority of Americans are law abiding, many more are not, and the question remains as to what could be the cause. Surely a government must abide by its own laws--not just SOME of the government abiding by SOME of the laws--but ALL of the government must abide by and uphold ALL of its laws in order to command the respect and loyalty of its citizens. In these times of media generated fear and global concerns it is all too easy to excuse governmental law breaking as an exigency in fending off terrorists. Witness FISA, and the issue of employing illegal spy tactics. Senator Schumer of NY voted against granting immunity to the communication corporations who broke the law in that regard; Obama, despite his assertions that he would "filibuster against [granting them immunity]" voted to grant that immunity anyway.

With turnabouts like this, is it any wonder that integrity, loyalty, honor, and respect for our words, deeds and laws has seen a downturn at the least and a drubbing at worst?

We were once a nation of laws, and to continue to be a nation at all, we must resolve to follow them--ALL must follow ALL laws, not just the ones we deem convenient, be we citizens or government.