ThirstyFish

"The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government". The actual quote from a George Washington letter reads: "The due administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good Government". I wonder how many judges and justices today really believe that? Given that George Washington was the only major slave holder among the seven Founding Fathers, did he really believe it himself? If so, to what extent?

There is something fundamentally Machiavellian about "higher ideal" quotes. I can not speak for everyone, but among the elite, such quotes and ideals are privately ridiculed while being publicly rhetorized. They are for consumption by "simpletons". And when the elite get caught betraying their own "ideals", their standard defense is, "they are aspirational goals, we aspire to be there".

Take the ideal of justice stated above. Ordinary elderly people are being sent to jail because they are unable to pay $35 municipal fines, while too-big-to-fail banks are being slapped on the wrist with civil penalties - penalties millions of dollar less than their fraudulent profits. There are many examples of banks making billions in fraudulent deals while paying only millions to settle charges, without "admitting or denying" the charges. No senior bank executive ever went to jail. That says a lot about the "firmest pillar of government". Is everyone who strives for justice naive?