Today’s message was inspired, in part, by a comment I recently posted on the blog belonging to 2008 Presidential candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton. Click on the highlighted words “Clinton blog” to read Manchild’s comment. My decision to utilize Presidential candidate Clinton’s blog first was due in part to the fact that it was easily accessible. Nevertheless, the brief comment posted also serves as an “open letter” to any of the remaining 2008 Presidential candidates willing to address issues relevant to the rest of America’s “working class” poor. I, therefore, welcome any and all responses from the remaining presidential hopefuls.
Due to the widely held belief that “Cash Rules Everything Around Me,” civil litigants, unlike criminal litigants, must contribute large amounts of their own money if they expect to avoid the inherent dangers of proceeding “pro se” with a meritorious lawsuit. Due to the fact that America’s adversarial litigation process was designed by attorneys, and intended for the exclusive use of attorneys, outsiders are not welcomed nor are they treated objectively and fairly by biased judges. Hence, the working poor are forced to abandon meritorious civil actions or proceed before the courts of America’s justice system without the assistance of an adequate, effective attorney.
It doesn’t make me proud to know that one too many of America’s working class poor are repeatedly denied due process of law because Cash Rules Everything Around Me. According to Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12 (1956), “there can be no justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the money he has.” I’m, therefore, extremely interested in knowing, with specificity, what the next President of the United States will do to give hope to the poor, or “involuntary pro se civil litigants,” who can no longer afford to gain access to the U.S. Supreme Court?
What can the next President of the U.S. do to give “hope” to the working poor who can’t afford to pay an adequate, effective attorney $250 to $500 an hour for legal representation? What can the next President do to ensure that civil litigants, armed with meritorious civil actions, receive the same level of Constitutional safeguards that criminal litigants currently enjoy under the U.S. Constitution’s 6th Amendment? According to the law, “money” shouldn’t matter more than the “merits” of the case at bar. Even in the federal courts, C.R.E.A.M. for now.
“If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in his prison cell … to write a letter to the Supreme Court … the vast machinery of American law would have gone on functioning undisturbed. But Gideon did write that letter, the Court did look into his case … and the whole course of American legal history has been changed.”
Robert F. Kennedy
God willing, the next U.S. President will initiate sweeping, far-reaching legislation to protect the rights of an emerging underclass of involuntary pro se civil litigants who have been denied “equal justice under law” and “fundamentally fair” treatment by the federal courts. Only God knows how many meritorious civil lawsuits never get filed or get involuntarily dismissed due to a procedural default and, therefore, never go to trial because Cash Rules Everything Around Me.
Is it unrealistic to believe that the next President of the United States can improve the critically ill state of the human condition in the U.S. absent the assistance of the American voters? Can the next President make “equal justice under law” a reality instead of an unrealized ideal that’s still beyond the reach of the poor? To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy’s question, what can we, as Americans, do for our country? What can everyday, ordinary people do to help the next President resurrect and restore the “integrity” and “credibility” of America’s electoral process, healthcare system, and adversarial litigation process in the discerning eyes of the world’s culturally diverse leaders?
As evidenced by the latest news reports about U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez, ethics, credibility, and integrity are essential leadership qualities that are woefully lacking in the current White House administration. Alas, one too many of President Bush’s top aides have repeatedly been accused of telling a lie to justify the unethical means employed to accomplish a predetermined end. One too many of America’s working class poor have lost faith in the integrity and credibility of America’s current system of justice that is based upon an adversarial litigation process where money still matters more than merits.
It’s no secret that the credibility and integrity of our country’s justice system has been “impinged” by the top aides of the Bush/Cheney administration who have repeatedly refused to make wise choices that will benefit all Americans. It doesn’t make me proud to know that Uncle Sam has lost the trust, respect, and loyalty of the world’s leaders since the beginning of the Iraq war. God willing, it’s just a matter of time before the truth that’s been suppressed rises again and exposes the identities of the clandestine parties involved in President Bush’s unwise decision to begin a civil war Uncle Sam can’t win.
Did the Bush/Cheney administration’s fatally flawed belief that C.R.E.A.M. compel America’s political leadership to participate in unethical, clandestine activities to justify Uncle Sam’s repeated lapses in judgment? What caused the Bush/Cheney administration’s repeated abuses of power, repeated violations of our civil rights, or repeated failures to adhere to the clearly established rules of the Patriot Act? Unfortunately, the fatally flawed belief of the White House’s top aides that the “ends justifies the means” is known the world over as the “American Way.” Since George W. Bush became President of the U.S., what image, or images, does the American Way conjure up in your mind?
It doesn’t make me proud to know that the pervasive Cash Rules Everything Around Me paradigm is the one “weapon of mass destruction” the Bush/Cheney administration overlooked. C.R.E.A.M. is more of a clear and present threat to the American way of life than one too many of our nation’s political leaders are ready or willing to admit. Nevertheless, according to the law, the members of Bush/Cheney administration who continue to make politically motivated decisions based upon loyalty, not integrity, are still presumed innocent until proven guilty of committing a crime in a “recognized” court of law.
Before we go our separate ways, let’s flip this script and remind the culturally diverse members of humanity’s global village about the truth that makes people free.
It’s God, not Cash, not the Dollar Bill, not President Bush, not V.P. Cheney that rules everything around me. God Rules Everything Around Me. The answer to the question, “Am I Good Enough?” depends on whether this current generation of great men, women, and children honestly believes God loves us despite our great weaknesses. Because God Rules Everything Around Me, impossible is still nothing but a word to God.
Due to the pervasive “Bling Bling” culture that was birthed out of the belly of the popular, albeit faulty, belief that Cash Rules Everything Around Me, violent crime is once again on the rise. No. Don’t get it twisted. I’m not blaming Hip Hop, nor am I or scapegoating Gangsta Rap, for the recent spike in criminal activity. Nor do I blame crime on poverty.
Yet and still, I do blame much of today’s violent criminal behavior on our generation’s inability to trust God long enough to make wise choices. Once generations of impressionable little children know the reasons why they don’t need Bling Bling to deserve God’s attention, acceptance, and approval, they will begin to make wise choices and act accordingly. Matters not what the next President of the U.S. does or doesn’t do. God Rules Everything Around Me.
© Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.
