“All lawful rulers are the servants of the public, exalted above their brethren not for their own sakes, but the benefit of the people; and submission is yielded, not on the account of their persons considered exclusively of the authority they are clothed with, but of those laws, which in the exercise of this authority are made by them, conformably to the laws of nature and equity.”
-Gad Hitchcock (1774)
The most fundamental separation between liberty and tyranny is the rule of law. A nation, which promotes liberty, treats all men as equals under the law. A nation under tyrannical rule enforces laws as the dictator sees appropriate. No politician is too vital not to follow the rule of law. Those who create the laws of the land have a duty to live by those laws. In is unreasonable to expect the public to submit to mandates and directives, if those who write them do not.
If we are not governed by laws, we are governed by men. Men are inherently flawed and will have a lapse in judgment. It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. These men are not evil or habitual criminals, but mere humans. A free and just society relies on the rule of law to prosecute the missteps of all citizens. When legal infractions occur, we must insist our public officials are bound by the same laws a common person. When Politicians reinterpret laws based on wealth or power, equality becomes a forgotten notion.
The wealthy purchase the best defense lawyers to protect their interests when the affluent individual runs afoul of the law. Often, the poor do not receive the same preferential. This double standard is reprehensible, but no citizen should be denied the ability to seek the best legal defense. When our government endorses a stratified standard, the situation is far more depraved. Human nature dictates that an individual will use any advantage available when threatened by legal or other recourse. The practice is common in Washington, the American people are not protesting and the media is ignoring the problem. If justice is not a scared part of a free nation, what is?