Justice in America right now is being preserved and administered by the judges of America.  The Department of Justice this nation was initially charged with support and service as oversight and peer review of the judge’s work but has been coopted into something that could be called the Department of Private Retribution and Immigration Prevention. If this new trend continues or is not corrected in the next 4 to 5 years it could spell the end of our democracy. Justice must be administered under the structure of public law and with compassion. The capacity of compassion is necessary because the hard lines of justice cannot absorb or address the infinite variability of the human story without compassion built into due process.

Persons who compile too much power are often seeking a form of absolute private personal affirmation only to find themselves slaves to the ultimate slave master; their own passions.  When that happens they are blinded to that critical human form of perception called compassion.  Unless you can perceive other’s suffering you cannot respond to their stories or needs.  If there were one malady in American geopolitics and national politics today, it seems the leadership seems incapable of exercising or supporting compassion. For that reason the Department of Justice has been coerced as an extension of private passions.  This is a terminal state we need to remedy and soon.  

A Modest Starter Suggestion for Good

In rescuing Justice in this country, the Presidential Pardon may need to be the first piece of corrective surgery this nation conducts upon itself after we shuffle this crew out of office in the next elections. The Pardon should be reserved to correct the truly ambiguous or outright unjust rulings.  There should be structured reviews of the President’s intent in issuing the pardons case by case.  Pardons cannot be used to build constituency.  In short, the Presidential Pardon must have a brake to prevent a private individual using this tool of public compassion to serve his or her own private passions.  Secondly, a felony conviction should need to be legally overturned through proper judicial process before an individual can run for President.  We have seen the damage carrying a felony conviction into the most powerful office in the nation can do . Those two corrections alone would have been enough to prevent what we see happening today in America and that would be mighty good. The future can be ours again.