Politics Is the Art of the Possible Benjamin Franklin

It was Benjamin Franklin's view that where justice was absent, civil society was impossible. He and the other Founders agreed on the essential importance of justice in a commonwealth. I feel the same style, and you probably do as well. If you lot practise you will probably be as appalled as I was when I read the World of Justice Project report: Rule of Constabulary Alphabetize 2010.

I will not deny that it has left me shaken.

To sympathize why I think this report is such a big bargain, perchance information technology volition help to say who funded information technology: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Neukom Family unit Foundation, the GE Foundation, The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and Lexis Nexis. I listing them to make the betoken that this is the meridian of non-partisan philanthropy, non some political think tank with an agenda. We can trust the data.

The project, involving 900 researchers from 35 countries, who accept polled 35,000 individuals, in improver to searching each nation's records, presents itself in a mode that Benjamin Franklin would have understood and endorsed.

Establishing the rule of police is central to achieving communities of opportunity and equity -- communities that offer sustainable economic evolution, answerable government, and respect for central rights.... The dominion of law is the cornerstone to improving public wellness, safeguarding participation, ensuring security, and fighting poverty.

When the Globe Justice Projection talks near the dominion of law they spell out very advisedly what they mean. They refer to "a rules-based system in which the post-obit four universal principles are upheld:

• The government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law;
• The laws are clear, publicized, stable, and fair, and protect key rights,
• including the security of persons and property;
• The procedure by which the laws are enacted, administered, and enforced is accessible, fair, and efficient;
• Access to justice is provided by competent, independent, and ethical adjudicators, attorneys or representatives, and judicial officers who are of sufficient number, have acceptable resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.

With this as the basis for its assay the Rule of Law Alphabetize then lists what it calls the x "factors" which suspension down further into 49 "subfactors." These descriptors are the footing upon which Alphabetize evaluates a nation'southward justice under the rule of constabulary. The outcome of this do is a quite extraordinary cess "of the extent to which countries adhere to the dominion of police force -- not in theory simply in practice." Here are the 10 factors; they all sound very much attuned to the myth nosotros tell ourselves near "America."

1. Limited government powers
2. Absence of corruption
3. Clear, publicized and stable laws
4. Gild and security
5. Cardinal rights
6. Open government
7. Regulatory enforcement
8. Access to civil justice
9. Effective criminal justice
10. Informal justice

As I started reading the report I assumed that whatever other self inflicted wounds we have brought to ourselves as a nation, our justice organization was nevertheless solid, and that the U.S. would rank at the top of the earth'southward list. Surprise. The WJP groups countries by regions also as such considerations as income level. And so evaluates them, dropping Factor 10 -- Breezy Justice -- because it is does non involve law. Not surprisingly the U.S. is grouped with North America and Western Europe, and there are seven nations in our bloc: Austria, Canada, French republic, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and United states of america. These are the nations where the survey was carried out for the 2010 report, with other countries to follow in later reports. Here is how the results fell out:

For the U.Southward. it is a decease's head portrait of the reality that lies beneath the smug rhetoric we use to hector others most justice and the dominion of constabulary. I am embarrassed. We all should exist. This has haunted me since I read the report. If America is not a leader in justice, what are we? I could option a dozen other trends, from closing libraries, to depaving streets, to decline in educational operation, to add to this portrait of America today, but exercise we demand to go further? If America were a patient, what would you tell him well-nigh his lifestyle and habits? What would you come across every bit his prognosis?

On the basis of information information technology is impossible to say America's societal wellness is skilful. On the basis of that same data I believe it is reasonable to conclude that policies based on cut taxes without recognizing that it is in the societal interest to assure a decent quality of life for all, are destructive. We know enough to meet that democracy cannot function properly without a good for you and vibrant middle class, and to evidence to ourselves we are killing ours. We need to change form not on the ground of political credo, merely on facts. Facts about what does and does not work.

And we must recognize that the heart class holds the central to our national success, just as Franklin saw all those years ago. The middle class has plenty money to dream, but rarely enough to do information technology alone. Success requires working together, finding compromises. And that'southward what most of united states of america say nosotros want. Co-ordinate to research by Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business organization School and Dan Ariely of Duke Academy, 92 percent of Americans would cull to live in a guild with far less income disparity than the US, choosing Sweden'south model over that of the Usa. The America Benjamin Franklin imagined sitting beneath his Mulberry tree in the courtyard of his business firm in Philadelphia over ii centuries agone.

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Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/benjamin-franklin-and-a-m_2_b_777469

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