We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, April 16, 2011

The two-tiered justice system: an illustration

Click here to access article by Glenn Greenwald from Salon.

This outstanding investigative journalist and former constitutional lawyer illustrates what is obvious to many of us: the class based legal system provides free passes to the "one-percent". It is clear to me that the law, like all other institutions in the US, serves only the interests of the ruling capitalist class. And how could this be otherwise? By definition, a ruling class makes the rules. Should it be surprising that they make the rules to serve their interests and needs? 

See also this 10:13m video of a CNN interview with Eliot Spitzer and Matt Taibbi regarding the lack of prosecutions of Wall Street criminals.




There are people who would argue that such a CNN report illustrates that corporate media is doing its job. And, also they would argue that a number of corporate figures have been prosecuted, examples include Bernie Madoff and others (see this). My response is that in almost every case the crimes affected the interests of other capitalists.