Recently a delightful, young Middle Eastern couple and their small children moved into my apartment building. Like a number of new residents, they are exceptionally well educated. He, for example has a PhD in health economics from an American University. Both worked for a few years at well-known Silicon Valley corporations, but are here for further education.
Knowing my background, the young man and I sat down to talk about some linguistic rules. He was searching for day care for his younger daughter and wanted to know what he could and couldn’t say in an interview. And how best to find out whether a given school center would be best for his daughter. It’s rare for an international to ask about linguistic rules, so his questions of me were not only unusual, but especially astute.
After I laid out some protocols and suggested several different ways to gain as much information as possible for his decision, we got to talking about...
Rule of Law
I chuckled at his description of some practices as “legal corruption,” and agreed with his insight--tentatively. He saw no difference between legal and non-legal corruption. But we lacked time to finish what to me was both hilarious and fascinating. But since that conversation, I’ve been reflecting on his distinction and drawing one important conclusion about his distinction.
What did not come up in our conversation was the “rule of law.” To a greater—or lesser—degree, our nation operates on the “principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private—including the State itself—are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced, and independently adjudicated.” That’s the nature of the American experiment on which our country was founded.
Obviously, we’ve failed that test on numerous occasions. Still, the possibility remains that individuals, groups and organizations can take others to court—the corrupt—and win back rights. Admittedly, the rule of law has been under siege historically and certainly continues to be so today. Still, the opportunity remains open—an opportunity many places, like the homeland of my friends, does not offer.
Technically, there is no such thing as “legal corruption.” But practically, we’ve seen many individuals and organizations flout, circumvent and ignore the rule of law. Certainly, humans are incapable of perfecting and applying significant laws or rules to every situation. Presidents have found particular laws vexatious for as long as there have been presidents. But to a high degree, the populace puts an end to presidential desires either after four or certainly after eight years. They have no Putin-like control of national reality. And many of those who regularly flout the rule of law eventually get their come-uppance. There’s plenty of history as well as current events that confirm that delicious conclusion.