Gov't, Police Have Forgotten the 'Rule of Law'

As much as the economy, the Rule of Law holds together this nation. Photo J. Purcell

By Rev. J.J. Purcell

Riots are alive throughout this country now. And, they are not going to get better for now, I fear.

Someone whom people do not learn about in school anymore is 17th century English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704). Since most people are so badly schooled, they probably think that was when the pyramids were built. Regardless, Locke helped to intellectually enlighten most of our Founding Fathers here in America (that means 'they listened to what he said a lot').

So, this writer, Locke, said in his "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" that the mind is a blank slate at birth and is filled through experience. Well, old Locke was a great believer in "cause and effect." People are born understanding logical systems. For example, bad guy does something bad, they are arrested, then they are jailed and all is right with the world. But, wait! An example that would not be considered a logical system to people would be: 'Bad guy kills someone for no real reason, is caught, no one does anything about it and the killer is set free.' You see, if the bad guy can get away with murder, then who is to say he will not murder again, or people like him or her murder again? So, people become distressed and -- BANG! ZAP! -- you have yourself a mob looking to get rid of the murderer.

Of course, this does not examine things from a racial point of view. But, so many others are doing that I decided I would go another route.

What is the gist? In modern society, there must be rules and everyone must follow them or the society will become unhinged because, if there is a special group of people whom are not accountable for their actions, the center will not hold and the society will collapse upon itself.

I know some ignorant rednecks are having a tough time with this -- too much thinking. You should navigate away right about now. Go back to reading and making bumper stickers.

Riots rocked NYC during Tammany Hall days of corruption.

The Republicans in our National Government, many local Mayors and Councils and, apparently, most of the Police Departments in the country, now believe that ordinary Americans can be deprived of justice, beaten, murdered at the whim of police officers and subjected to a host of inhuman and wrongful acts. The ever-present "I feared for my life" offered by officers would go a lot farther, I believe, if there were not so many random shootings or strangling of unarmed Black men, from sea to shining sea.

As I write this today, two NYPD officers were killed by a lunatic for the misdeeds of Police who murdered unarmed Black men in Missouri and New York, respectively. The practice of randomly murdering whomever they wished has gone on quite a while for Police. No one said too much for the longest time. Well, the purpose for our system of justice (working rightly) is intended so mobs, such as we are seeing now, do not form into lynching parties in the street for murderers hiding behind badges.

Then, one day, people got sick of it; fed up to the gills.

Back when Tammany Hall (through the Society of Tammany) ran New York City, during the Civil War, the War of the Five Points destroyed the city because people believed it was impossible to receive justice or fairness out of the City and Police back then. The result? A goodly sized chunk of New York City was burned to the ground. 

In Newark, New Jersey in 1967, the White City Government and Police thought civil rights were a joke. Well, it wasn't. Newark was burned to the ground and didn't even start to come back until about 10 years later. All because some Police morons had to play cowboy and arrest and beat down some poor kid who did nothing to anyone -- oh, yes, he was Black. 

Right now, something in this country is going on too. People are fed up with injustice and the inability of American citizens to be treated with human rights in their own communities. Sadly, since the Police and Prosecutors decided to cover up things and explain away murder, and the Courts rubber stamping those farces -- the crowds started to react. They became mobs. 

I am a proud American. I do not want Police to be murdered. I do not want them to be goons either. I want bad guys arrested. But, I do not want them murdered for standing on the wrong corner. It is wrong that a Policeman not liking the way someone parts their hair can wrongly, conspicuously and in cold blood murder Americans. No, not that. The Rule of Law is broken when either police or mobs do it. Right now, aside from a nut-job here or there, it is mostly the protesters who have been the most civil, all things told. 

If all protesters are contributing to the murder of the policemen in NY today, then does that mean that all Police are contributing to the murder of helpless, unarmed people? We are on a slippery slope, kids.

Yet, it is not just these protesters of the moment to worry about. There can be many more coming soon.

The Republican Congress vows to end Social Service programs. So now, on top of there being no justice in the streets by Police or Courts, sea to shining sea, now the central government intends to starve people by ending Food Stamps, make them homeless with an end to rental assistance, and God knows what else. 

Did you know that when Franklin D. Roosevelt took charge of the Presidency in the midst of the Great Depression in the 1930s, he did not create a host of social programs just to build roads, help the poor, or get the economy going again. He did it, in some part, because the Federal Government was starting to lose control of the nation. When adherence to the laws of the land states that someone must go hungry, homeless, or untreated medically -- then people stop listening to the government and take over where it comes to their own survival.

People scraping to survive are not going to be 'cricket' about following laws. There were riots everywhere in the Depression. Towns disappeared and whole populations shifted. Riots broke out in Washington  DC among veterans, among many other places, many of whom were shot dead on the order of President Herbert Hoover (a Republican). Communists made an enormous foothold in this country and were not that far from taking it over. There was no law. The center was buckling.

FDR enacted scores of social legislation just so the Federal Government could keep this nation together. Thank God it worked. 

You watch, America, the inability for anyone in the GOP, City Halls or Police Departments to read an actual history book is going to come back to roost for us all. Perhaps this is the result of our terrible ranking in the world for our students in academic achievement revisiting us -- or in vernacular, 'biting us in the ass.'

What is the solution? Not more murder of unarmed people, not the elimination of social services. I fear for tomorrow. And, I fear for our young people the most. They have been so appallingly ill-prepared for the future, thanks to my generation and those before. No, we have not been good stewards of the trust of our fathers and mothers. We have economized until America today is more illiterate than it has been since the 18th century. There has to be a change in the tide if there is going to be a brighter day for our nation -- not ideas being met with guns, citizens fearing the Police, not insanity ruing the day, or the banishment of logic from our shores. Yes, things must change.

(Rev. J.J. Purcell is a graduate of the NY Theological Seminary. He was licensed to preach by ABC-NJ and is a U.S. Army veteran. Rev. Purcell was also a journalist for many years, who garnered several writing awards, among them Congressional and NJ Legislative proclamations, among others.)

It came upon a midnight clear

My Dad was 10 in 1929, when the worlds of so many people he knew crashed all around him during the “Great Crash,” and that event is widely believed to have caused the Great Depression. If someone doesn’t understand the references, look it up -- I’m not teaching history here.

Well, 2009 might as well have been the Great Crash for me. Then, 2011 was really the end of my old life, which wasn’t so bad really. Between 2011 and 2013 I found my bottom, and was it a pip.

This column isn’t about what was lost, though. Because people lose things; all kinds of things get lost over time, from people to things, money and possessions, reputations and dreams. It is truly a wonderful life, but not everything is going to turn out sweet as pie at all times.

As advice, I would say people are the worst investment I ever put stock in, by and large. Still, if I hadn’t done that, went through the good times and the very hard ones, seen what hell looked like from the cheap seats and found some kind of redemption along the way -- well, it wouldn’t have been the life I am so very proud of and pleased about.

Here is a news break for the kids out there, or those who have suffered getting hit in the head with something big and heavy: Hard times comes and hard times go. Sometimes, plans work for people and sometimes they don’t. No one can control the world around them and believing they can will do nothing but disappoint someone and make them cry for a long time  But, the good news is very good: There is something good even in hard times, the worst of hard times.

I am never going to get back the things I lost in this life, but do any of us actually ‘own’ anything anyway? We rent our houses, which will eventually be owned by someone else. We only handle ‘our money’ because, eventually, it always ends up in someone else’s pocket: Last time I checked no one has a checking account in either heaven or hell. Loved ones, for as hurtful as it can be, will come and go more often than anyone wants. But through everything, if you can find and keep yourself -- you own everything you ever need in this world or the next.

Christmas has never been a big holiday for me. Hard times feel all the harder when there are holiday trees and all those people smiling and gushing cheer all over the place. If someone isn’t feeling good about their life, the first thing they will make a joke about is Christmas; because somewhere down deep they are miserable. Well, being ticked off at life is easy enough to do -- lots of things suck and that is no lie.

It is easy to hate the cards one has been dealt, because the dealer isn’t fair and is sometimes so repugnant you can smell him before you see him. Nevertheless, no one can take anything of value from someone if that someone possesses the one thing that is waterproof, fire-proof and even death-proof: Themselves. No one can stop the tides, hard luck or bad weather but they can like who they see in the mirror and have a little sympathy for the guy. Hell, I will go one further. Being the best friend to yourself will prevent one from living or dying hopeless -- because if you are your own best friend then you’ll never be alone and between you, your best friend and the Lord (whom I believe has walked with me every day in my hard times) you can even have a good game of cards.

Life is a gift. Even the bad parts of it is a gift. Sure, it is not always a gift one wants or even likes, but if someone lets the hard times do their best then, one day, they can look up and maybe they’ll have one more reason than they did the day before for getting out of bed. And, after that, they may come up with another one. And, so on. And, so on.

This is Christmas: A time when people should be kind to one another and overjoyed that the Lord gave them the life he did. At least that is what is on the marquee. I don’t believe people are all that nice (at least not in this day and age if they ever were). As a matter of fact, I don’t put a shot glass full of confidence in the better angels of humanity, as a rule of thumb. But, I have come to believe in the Lord and myself -- the greatest gift a man entering his last act can have. So, the sun is a little brighter, the birds chirp a bit louder and, having acknowledged that this life never will be that “Wonderful Life” Jimmy Stewart knew or Andy Griffith’s “Mayberry RFD,” I look at things around me for what they are and I can like them well enough.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not happy I was ruined or that those who helped me out in getting ruined did it. Still, last time I checked I’m not in charge of anyone but me. There is someone who is in charge of sorting out what people did and didn’t do, and I’m not talking about Judge Judy. I don’t have to carry the weight of the world, or anyone else’s weight for that matter. Heck, I have my own problems just fending off another piece of pie for dinner.

I lived through the hard times, though, despite horrible, horrible experiences. Those experiences don’t own me anymore, as much as they have been lived and are simply a part of the record where I am involved.

There are special people in my life today, and they don’t expect a damn thing from me other than that I try and do the best I can day to day. God put them in my life and I am really happy about that. And, the people he took away, I guess he knew what he was doing with that too.

If you are reading this and you’re life has been going fine and everything is just wonderful, well this is wasted on you. God bless and may the road rise to meet you still. But, if you are down-and-out, if you are looking at the wolf at the door and he is either getting in or he is walking around the living room -- and it seems like all hope is lost -- I’m here to tell you it isn’t.

Sure, things are going to suck for a while. And, don’t lie to yourself or listen to any of that cheap confection TV ministers are shoveling at you: Not everything is roses and its not supposed to be. Sometimes, you take your licks and go through a little hell. Maybe some violence will be done to your spirit, body and mind. Never think you’re alone, though. There really is a God. If someone doesn’t believe that I really don’t give a damn. The Lord doesn’t need me to ring doorbells for him. I’ll just say he is there and leave it at that.

This world is really very beautiful, even with the muck and mire in it here and there. It’s definitely worth a good long look. When you’re out of money and luck, don’t throw your cards in -- it gets better. If you hang around long enough good stuff will happen. Just look at high school, all you have to do is show up enough and you can be the dumbest bump on the log out there and they’re still going to hand you a piece of paper one day saying you graduated. Maybe life is just a little like that, I don’t know.

So even if you’re not having the happiest of Christmases this year, not to worry. Hang around long enough, do your best not to be stupid (even if you’ve previously made a career out of it) and good things will happen. No one is perfect and everyone deserves a second, third or even fourth chance. There was only one perfect man in this world, and we killed him for it. So, if you are a screw up trying to dig yourself out of a big ass hole, not to worry, there are a whole lot of other people digging right next to you.

Oh, and if you ever have another shot at love (I don’t mean the insane kind) -- do it. I am pretty sure it’s why we were put on this earth in the first place.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!