In the Age of Reagan, in 1987, the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” was rescinded, opening the way for talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, and unfettered bias. This doctrine had made media offer “equal time” to opposing views, and Democrats want it reinstated. I think people who like the ranting of Sean Hannity probably don’t want to listen so long to David Colmes; a Rush Limbaugh “dittohead” shouldn’t be forced to listen to me. But, right-wing blowhards rousing rabble as their stock-in-trade don’t know when to quit, being in the business of mongering outrage.
An upshot of this doctrine becoming defunct is the coarsening of our culture, epitomized by a blonde, bombastic Ann Coulter, she with the signature, come-hither black cocktail dress and a model’s body, with a skinny face that makes her ears look too big--a woman who martyrs couth for a living, the only person who apparently gets away with calling other women fat, see: Hillary C., and straight men--“pretty boy” John Edwards--gay.
When John’s wife Elizabeth last year asked her to tone it down, Ann Coulter said they should thank her, instead, that her pragmatism and mercantilism was generating notoriety ergo income, for all 3 of them. By way of being unapologetic, Coulter said the Edwards’ fortune came from dead babies and malpractice lawsuits that brought in “$50 million,” and that bought populist John, “son of a mill worker”, and Elizabeth, one of the biggest mansions in NC, and that such excess was good neither for patients or the medical industry, and this history imbued the Edwards with no moral superiority over a sensationalist like her. Touche’.
Now, President Bush with monotony decried “activist judges!” in his campaigning, as a mantra. But, his judges say “there is no constitutional right to possess drugs,” gutting the 4th amendment,** and the Roberts Court struck down a 50+ year old landmark precedent, Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, that de-institutionalized segregation. That’s activism, folks. Scalia saying "Get over it," referring to the 2000 theft and coup, Gore v. Florida? I can think of no greater activism and rewrite of the constitution, than that 5-4 ruling, and its being accompanied by justice Ginsberg's terse, two-word dissent.
And, the celebrated case of Scooter Libby? Fundamental to all law enforcement is the ability to force the letting of truth, under penalty of perjury. Bush’s commutation of Libby’s sentence obstructs that. Whether through cynicism, simplemindedness or derangement, and, blind to the irony, Bush dons the robe of an activist judge, ruling, “the sentence was severe.”*** Meanwhile, a million people languish in prison(s), due to severe sentences in a Drug War that doesn’t work, thanks in no small part to the money and power it brings to lawyers, the criminal courts, the prison industry. One wit said, “If this is war, the drugs are winning.”
Which brings us to my theme, the comeuppance of a self-serving juggernaut, that hawks hubris and cheap speech for high fees. A classic example of abuse, of solicitors pretending to help those wronged while helping themselves and making justice a beggar, is the billions of dollars in billable hours in the 5O state lawsuit(s) against big Tobacco in the 1990’s, in a contemptible raid on the public trust. State houses and a Congress typically run by glorified, sometimes attorneys, makes us spend up to 50 times more per capita on legal matters, here, than they do in say, Japan, where the world’s third largest economy for generations ran like a Toyota, ignoring lawyers.
With the notable exception of immigration, I am a stalwart liberal who is drawn to Democrats, but, I am turned off by the party associated with lawyers. Hillary and Bill, Barack, John and Elizabeth Edwards, indeed, former GOP candidates Fred Thompson and Rudolph Giuliani, the scurrilous Ann Coulter, the lying Scooter Libby; quorums in statehouses, 215 members of the US Congress, Doug Feith, David Addington, John Yoo, the RATS court, they’re all lawyers. Moreover, the pathetic spectacle of the numero uno law enforcement official in the land, Alberto Gonzalez, parrying questions and pleading ignorance and obviously lying like a common criminal on the spot last year, embarrasses Amerika. I rest my case.
*“The first thing we do, is….“ Dick the Butcher, from Henry VI, part II, Shakespeare.
**Um, didn’t that rag fail to deny Jefferson’s assertions about guaranteeing “liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence? That tens of millions of people like to get high, is nothing some law is going to change. The Drug War is the refined product of our greatest legal minds? Humbug. Finding drugs after the fact rationalizes any prior 4th amendment violation by the police, says the law, now. Yet, there is no "constitutional right" to break any law, ergo, the 4th amendment is defunct and the right to privacy as well, if and when a crime is discovered or a criminal is apprehended. "Open season" for cops and hunting expeditions are what the 4th amendment was meant to prevent, Mr. Scalia.
***Now uncharacteristically coy with his friend, Libby, Bush once showed “no” mercy, signing 133 death warrants as governor of Texas, and one reprieve.
_______
[1] | 
[2] | 
[3] | 
[4] | 
[5] | 
[6] | 
[7]