Corruption

Corruption.

From local government to the highest offices in the world there is corruption. There is absolutely nothing the common man can do about it. Sure, we can vote the corrupt out of office and replace them with others but, soon enough, those new politicians will be just as corrupt as the old ones. Why? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Federal Government has that absolute power.

What about local government? You know the ones; the mayor, the city manager, the chief of police, the sheriff, the magistrate, county attorney, assessor. They can all be corrupt. Even the newest member of the local Gestapo, sorry, police force. I can't seem to bring myself to call them law enforcement officers because they aren't; they are revenue agents and bullies with badges in a lot of small towns across the nation. Even in the big cities, there are those that use their badge as a crown.

There has always been those in government that did whatever they had to to get their way from bribes to threats to downright murder. Everyone knows the story of Hanging Judge Roy Bean. Wyatt Earp wasn't exactly a saint his whole life. Presidents have been assassinated because someone was afraid they would be exposed by the highest office or someone wanted to move up a notch without going through the democratic process.

Look what is going on in DC today. The far left-wing liberals up there that are supposed to have sworn to uphold the Constitution and protect the nation from threats are fighting against the President who is trying to do just those things. The duly elected Congressmen and women are more interested in making sure the Donald J Trump doesn't win than protecting their constituents against foreign invasion from the southern border by people bound to destroy us.

How about the local constabulary that has a boner for someone? The racist cop, the drug-dealing cop, the cop on the take – it happens all over the country. And these are the ones that have sworn to uphold and protect the law. They do, when a private citizen breaks the law but, if a lawman breaks the law they are protected by the Blue Veil of Secrecy. And, if a citizen even thinks about reporting a lawman breaking the law they are threatened with incarceration for some fabricated crime with planted evidence. It happens. It also happens that there are those lawmen that will fabricate crimes on people they don't like.

How about those that have served time in prison? Let's say someone spends five to ten years in a so-called correctional facility for smoking weed or some other half-baked, nonsense crime. They spend their days doing nothing except going insane from boredom. They are in there with others that have broken some insane law that doesn't make sense and some that broke a law that needed punishment. What happens? They learn that the law is unfair, their minds go numb, they become more and more angry, and, to top it off, they learn how to break more severe laws.

When they come out do they receive help returning to society? Some do, some don't. An ex-con can become a productive member of society if the justice system will help them. A lot of times the justice system does its best to send that ex-con back to prison. Probation officers make it hard for that man, or woman, to get even try to get set up again. Let's put an ankle monitor on their leg that wears a hole in their skin and shows the world that this person is bad. Let's not let them get a driver's license so they can get around. Let's make sure they can't have a phone to make and receive calls from potential employers. Let's not let them have internet access (if they are convicted of any kind of sex crime) so they can't communicate with friends and family.

The justice system is not just and the court system is not blind. Courts are not a place of justice, only what can be proven and how much money you have to spend to defend yourself. Even court-appointed attorneys are not free and they usually work for the county, not the client. Plea bargains are commonplace instead of a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. If you do happen to proven 'not guilty' it isn't saying that you are innocent only that they didn't have enough evidence to prove you guilty.

Congress continually legislates more and more laws. For such a free country we are weighed down with laws against everything. We can't hunt, fish or trap without paying for the privilege of doing so. We have to wear helmets and seat belts. We can't swim where we want. We can't stop, stand or park where we want. We have to pay to do just about everything except breathe and, sooner or later, they will find a way to make us pay for that. If the government can't tax it, they say you have to buy a permit for it. If you take a good, hard, honest look at it, I'd say that close to 70% of what a person makes working goes to the government in some form of tax or permit or fine for some small infraction.

Brings me to another point. The Constitution says that excessive fines are prohibited. Funny, for an overweight fine in some states it can cost from $200 to $4,000. Littering from $75 to $500. Court costs (which I thought taxes paid for the court system) can run up to $500 plus other extortion fees they charge on TOP of the fine. A little excessive if you ask me.

It comes down to corruption. And this country does its best to fight corruption in foreign countries. Corruption in its finest form. We hate it when a foreign nation tries to interfere with our electoral process but we will do our best to screw over some third world, or up and coming, country's government. Who is the corrupt ones? Who is worse – Meduro from Venezuela, Putin from Russia, Kim from North Korea, or Pelosi from the US and May from the UK? Which country is more corrupt? I think it's a toss-up. I live in the USA so I can only say what I see here and it ain't good anymore.