4/30/17, “Equal Justice Under Law”
Aboard Northeast Regional 158, En route WAS-NYP
A government does a lot of things, especially a federal
government. What the government can,
does, and should do are often not always the same. Should the government engage in socialist
redistribution of wealth to provide healthcare of all its citizens? It certainly can do that, but I would
certainly say it should not. Can a
government repress certain classes of citizen just because people have an
ingrained aversion (religious or otherwise) to their choice in romantic
partners or the color of their skin? A
government certainly can do that, I would also certainly say that it should
not. What, then, would I say that the
government should do? The answer to that
question is carved in huge letters at the top of the Supreme Court building:
EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW.
That does not
mean, the government should force everyone to love their neighbor, gather in a
circle, and sing kumbaya. It does not
mean that the government should make sure that every citizen receives the exact
same amount of income and prosperity. It
means that the government should not pass laws that oppress one citizen (or
class of citizens) at the expense of another.
It means that the government should not grant rights to one citizen (or
class of citizens) that it denies to another.
It means that the government should not enforce laws in a way that disproportionately
favors one citizen (or class of citizen) while harming another.
Now, everything I have written so far applies
only to the legislative and executive branches, and it is relatively
uncontroversial. However, these words
were written above the Supreme Court, so how does it apply to the judicial
branch? Well, it means that the courts
should not interpret the law with regards to skin color or religion. It means that the courts should not provide
one citizen (or class of citizens) a more favorable interpretation than it does
another. It means that the courts should
not be interested in whether a law is just or fair, only if it is constitutional
and, assuming it is, providing blind and equal justice under law.
My liberal friends will find that last bit a
little unappetizing, so liberal progressivism requires this absolute moral crusade
to vilify anyone at any stage who is not in complete agreement with their
views, so they want the courts to be just another tool in advancing their
liberal progressive agenda, even if such actions are properly the province of
the legislative branch. Equal justice
under law, that’s it. That’s all the
government needs to do, and yet they almost always fail in that most basic
task. Okay, so what happened today? Well, first I need to finish recounting last
night.
After I published, I went back to
the room to drop off my bag and change into more comfortable clothes before
going down to play Zelda. My lighter was
on its last legs, and I lit up an LFD. I
made some good progress on Zelda before going back up. When I woke up, I went down for breakfast,
getting the David Burke specialty pastrami smoked salmon, which, rather than
being on the bagel, was served on a platter, the bagel, cream cheese, and
salmon all deconstructed. The bagel was
terrible, the cream cheese subpar and the salmon good. I could have gotten the same thing at Zucker’s
for half the price on a much better bagel with better cream cheese. I then went back up to the room, and we got
ready for the day.
We had five (or
possibly more) National Park Sites to visit, and none of them were an easy
walking distance, either from the hotel or each other. We first took a taxi to the Belmont-Paul
Women’s Equality National Monument, and she let us off in front of the Supreme
Court. It was a short walk to the NPS,
but I had forgotten about my empty lighter.
This site was pivotal to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which
gave women the right to vote. I lit up a
Graycliff with the last of my lighter, and we took a ceremonial picture.
We then went to the Supreme Court around the
corner, and I saw the words: EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW. I knew that that would be the title of today’s
entry. We were at the Women’s Equality
NM, and we were about to go to Frederick Douglass NHS. What could be a better title? We took a Lyft to Frederick Douglass NHS,
stopping for my lighter on the way.
When
we got there, we went up a steep hill to the house, only to realize that we
actually had to go to the VC at the bottom of the hill first to get the
brochure. There were a lot of brochures
for other nearby sites, and it was really confusing. The Park Ranger had no idea what was an NPS
unit and what was not. I decided I would
not alter our plan based on wishy-washy information. We got our brochure and went back to the
house to take a ceremonial picture.
From
there, we called another Lyft to take us to the outer parks in Maryland. Our plan was to take a different Lyft each
time, but our driver said he would just wait for us and wasn’t going to charge
us for waiting time. We could just
rebook him for each leg. We were soon at
Fort Washington, which was an actual War of 1812 fort. It was fun to walk around, and we got some
good pictures. That was also the end of
my Graycliff.
We next went to Greenbelt,
which is called an “urban oasis,” basically a camping ground in the DC
suburbs. After we did our business at
the ranger station, I lit up an Oliva and found a nice hiking trail. I walked until I had posted my picture and
then walked back. It was quite a scenic
trail. Our next and last stop was Rock
Creek Park, which was actually back inside of DC. We stopped for a snack on the way (chips,
crackers, and ice cream), as we hadn’t eaten lunch yet, and it was getting too
close to dinner time for a full meal.
When we got to Rock Creek, the Park Ranger there, who had the interesting
name Alan Randall, was far more knowledgeable than anyone I had met on what constituted
the units. He explained that there was
one other unit we had not had on our list, which I had actually thought was
Mid-Atlantic and not National Capital Region.
Another time. We took our
ceremonial picture, and I found a half-mile hiking loop. While I walked, I soon heard a few kids
running up to my complaining about my cigar.
It wasn’t so much that the smoke of the cigar bothered them, but rather
the fact that I was smoking bothered them.
My reader will note that I was well ahead of them, that they ran up to
my position, and that they did not choose to run ahead past me. I completed the loop, and Lawrence took us
back downtown.
There was one other site
in the National Mall that I may or may not have visited, Constitution Gardens. I didn’t think it possible that I never
visited it, but I may never have properly claimed it, nor did I have a
brochure. We took our ceremonial picture
and went in search of the stamp, getting lost in the maze of the Mall in the
process. Eventually, we found the stamp,
took a new ceremonial picture, and called it a day. It was 4:30 PM, and my mother didn’t want to
utilize the remaining time for the museum she had been planning to visit, we
were both so exhausted at this point, that we just went back to the hotel. They used the “house car,” a very fancy black
SUV, to take us to Union Station.
When
we got to the driveway, I was looking at the flags, and I noticed something I
had never seen before. After the flags
of Alaska and Hawaii, I saw six more flags: District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,
Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, United States Virgin Islands, and American
Samoa. That was interesting. It was now almost 5:30 PM, and we went
straight to the food court.
I got a
burger, a half-smoke (a DC specialty), fries, and a soda from place called BoldBite. I had actually eaten there before. My mother had a salad. After dinner, we went to Haagen-Dazs, and I
got a raspberry white chocolate milkshake, which was divine. We then boarded the train and found seats,
where I, once we were underway, proceeded to write this entry, which I will now
close, along with closing out this trip.
Next stop: Texas and Oklahoma for a trip that I will call “OK, Texas”.
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