(There is, among both American political parties, a sense of hopelessness. Often, it controls policy and rhetoric, and the optimists have trouble finding influence. The dread is not without name or shape, however. With some significant justification, we have lost faith in our electoral processes. No election will ever again be conducted without someone questioning its integrity, and if a democracy cannot trust the vote, it has little future, and citizen engagement falls away. This has been happening in our country for years. We keep electing politicians who make sweeping promises and then do not deliver, and, consequently, cynicism and disaffection abide across the land. We end up in wars we do not want with enemies we have earned. Civil discourse atrophies.
Jim Bob, an inspiring story. I truly find myself so pessimistic at times I don’t want to think about the country I have loved for nearly 77 years. As I’ve commented to other Substack authors, the attack on our judicial system with some of it based on an accurate analysis has been the hardest to absorb. I recently retired after 45 years as a civil and occasional criminal trial attorney that daily worked in our jury based trial system. The “right” to a trial by our peers is mentioned more times in our Constitution than any other right. Lawrence Berry was one of those peers who throughout our nation’s history saved us from the “Pepe’s” of our country. To now see the attacks on jury trials, the jurors and the trial judges exercising this right for our citizens - facing slander at best and physical retaliation at worst is truly disturbing to me. If we make it through these times, it will be because of those who remember our history and remind us of it daily. Thank you for being one of “those.”
Jim Bob, an inspiring story. I truly find myself so pessimistic at times I don’t want to think about the country I have loved for nearly 77 years. As I’ve commented to other Substack authors, the attack on our judicial system with some of it based on an accurate analysis has been the hardest to absorb. I recently retired after 45 years as a civil and occasional criminal trial attorney that daily worked in our jury based trial system. The “right” to a trial by our peers is mentioned more times in our Constitution than any other right. Lawrence Berry was one of those peers who throughout our nation’s history saved us from the “Pepe’s” of our country. To now see the attacks on jury trials, the jurors and the trial judges exercising this right for our citizens - facing slander at best and physical retaliation at worst is truly disturbing to me. If we make it through these times, it will be because of those who remember our history and remind us of it daily. Thank you for being one of “those.”
Laredo, half a century ahead of the rest of the country! Who woulda thunk? But then, there's still the likes of henry cuellar.