Recently, the indie film Documented -- a film by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, was aired on CNN. The film chronicles Jose's plight in dealing with broken US Immigration law. It is a hot-button debate, one that polarizes Americans of every nationality and background. The discussion meanders from fairness and equity, to selfishness and racism. But there is an underlying issue which drives the problems that we see, not just in immigration, but in almost every US problem today -- the idea that ANY law can be interpreted in a way that benefits a person or group a certain way. After all, what is a law if it is allowed to be defined differently by different people?
Immigration law is only one of many facets of our legal system that falls prey to groups or people with self-interests to oblige by. Consider what Alabama did with their immigration issue. They elected to deport undocumented citizens, and allow law enforcement to interrogate anyone who the felt "might be undocumented." But the kicker to this law was that if that undocumented person was a worker on an Alabama farm, well then it was just fine for that person to stay all of the sudden, because the farmer needed cheap labor to pick his fields. Money and capitalism - 1, US Law - 0.
What about people who break the law? 49ers football player Aldon Smith has had numerous brushes with our legal system. We're not just talking about stealing candy bars from a 7-11. He has dealt with everything from felony weapons charges with machine guns, to alleged bomb threats in US airports, yet he is free to play football. Why? Because football is a business that makes money, and the 49er's would rather invest is getting him out of jail so that they can make their money. Money and capitalism - 2, US Law - 0.
The point is that with all the effort that we spend with our laws, enforcing them, arguing about them, and using them for our own selfish agendas, our US legal system has an issue. It's not that our system is flawed, but it's that fact that we allow our laws to be manipulated by people who's self-interests are more important than the rights of citizens.
Like everything else in America, US Law is also a victim of Capitalism... when are we going to wake up and realize this?
... or are the laws that govern our country not ours to fix..?