Remember Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritan society in his novel, The Scarlet Letter? Poor Hester Prynne violated the laws of the church, which meant that she broke society’s laws, too. At the beginning of the novel, the reader joins Hester as she leaves the safety of the town prison and makes her way back into the society that jailed her. Reading the book for the first time in the 11th grade, I had a hard time understanding how, in a free society, the religion of one group could also form its judicial system. That makes the laws of God the same thing as the laws of man. Separation of church and state was also an 11th grade U.S. history lesson, so we students figured no more Hesters could be jailed for breaking the laws of her religion . Or so we thought. We fought a war 250 years ago to separate the colonies from a king who was not only ruler of the government but leader of the church. A quick walk through British history shows what a mess that ideal leads to: remember Henry VIII
“Starting today, I will hold all Department of Justice nominations. If [Attorney General] Merrick Garland wants to use these officials to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, we will grind his department to a halt,” J.D Vance declared.
And, in the typical posture of a disgruntled eight-year-old who declares, “I’m going to take my baseball and go home” to stop the game, Senator Vance decided to shut down judicial appointments from this point on.
He’s not the only eight-year-old in the party.
"It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said. Really, Kevin, even if he’s guilty of jeopardizing American security, something you used to take an interest in?
Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona tweeted: "We have now reached a war phase. Eye for an eye.” Working at optimum strength, justice is blind so your “eye for an eye” is a little too late.
“If he wants to store material in a box in a bathroom, he can do that,” exclaimed Jim Jordan, because this is probably where he keeps his valuables, too, including his sense of fairness, justice, reason, and toilet paper.
And my personal favorite quote is by Senator Marco Rubio: “You think this ends here? The next Republican president is going to be under tremendous pressure to bring charges and indict Joe Biden, his family, his crackhead son, whoever…” So according to the Florida senator, no one should ever be indicted - no matter what they do - because there could always be retribution.
That’s scary: justice by retribution. Wonder how we got to this point. Hmm…
“I will be your retribution,” quoth the carrot-topped one.
Trouble is, any reading of the Florida indictment against the ex-president is proof enough that this isn’t the witch hunt that Republicans want it to be. Trump jeopardized lives, relationships with allies, and national security; and all that is laid out nicely by the DOJ.
If one wants to read it.
But if you read it, you might start to believe there is some credibility to the indictment. And if there is credibility, how do you continue to support the current leader of the Republican party?
It’s a Republican conundrum, all right.
Instead, the Senator from Ohio would rather hold up DOJ appointments, making sure that justice isn’t just blind but nonexistent in some states, including his own. Holding up DOJ appointments could jam up the judicial process and violate a citizens’ 9th amendment right to a speedy trial.But then, most of these Republicans never get past the 2nd amendment in their reading of the constitution, do they?
Justice by retribution and an eye-for-an-eye justice system: this is the MAGA formula supported by Trump and his minions. And we must stop it.
Protecting blind justice starts in November 2023 by electing Virginia candidates that ensure justice for all, based on laws and the constitution - not loyalty and power. Even if Washington politicians go awry, we can keep sanity in the Virginia General Assembly by voting for candidates that protect our rights and uphold the constitution - and all 27 of its amendments.
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