GUEST COLUMN: Equal justice 'happens only in the movies'

As President Trump and the GOP continue to spread their post-election poison, I find myself drifting to the final scene of the 1984 film, “Amadeus.”

After confessing his crimes, the aging Salieri is wheeled through the madhouse hallways intoning to his fellow inmates, “Mediocrity! Mediocrity!”, conferring to them the curse of his own lifelong ineptitude. Be that as it may, what becomes of us now? What will be our dedicated response in this post-election afterglow? Will our hooligan political parties finally account for their pitiful actions, or lamentable inactions? Or will they, like Gerald Ford in 1974, pardon this president and their own criminal behaviors as something we need to quickly overlook?

Kind of hard to do with 286,000 dead, but I’m sure they’ll try. But let us, for the purpose of enlightenment and to momentarily defuse the late Edward R. Murrow’s seditious charge of Americans as decadent, escapist, and insulated from the realities of the world in which they live, and consider the crimes that have been so openly committed. The list is lengthy, as will be the cast of upcoming pardons, I’m sure.

Perjury, intimidation, blackmail, conspiracy - a list of crimes so numerous that it would be difficult to catalog all of them here. Charges that, given time, will be proven and fortified to the complete indifference of 47% of the known electorate.

Even so, there is one charge that cannot be so easily forgiven. In judicial terms, it is defined as “negligent homicide.” To begin, “negligence” is an important legal term we need to understand. It is defined as “the failure to use the care that a normally careful person would use in a given situation.” The term “reckless” is also used as a relative term, as it is used in “reckless homicide”, which is defined as “a crime in which the perpetrator was aware that their act [or failure to act when there is a legal duty to act] creates significant risk of death or grievous bodily harm in the victim, but ignores the risk and continues to act [or fail to act] and a human death results.”

But for the record, what is “significant risk”? Let’s use the coronavirus pandemic as an example of risk. According to CDC statistics, 2 of every 100 people infected by the coronavirus will die, while 15-20 of every 100 infected will end up hospitalized. Of those 15-20 hospitalizations, 50-75% of those will end up with transient or permanent organ damage. Yet, with these “significant risks” well in mind, Mr. Trump has, for the duration of this crisis, publicly derided health policy attempts to prevent and avoid infection. His own public rallies and administrative gatherings have created documented spread of the infection, including to himself and his family. One victim is H.U.D. Secretary Ben Carson, who attended a largely maskless election night rally for Mr. Trump and tested positive for the virus. By the time this comes to print, rest assured there will have been others. All of this was carried out, despite the knowledge of the dangers Mr. Trump recognized privately.

Beyond his own gatherings, his purposeful denial of scientific policy and his support of efforts to override those policies has enabled an indifferent minority of the population [47% of the known electorate] to ignore health policy and help in the spread of the disease. How many deaths and permanent injuries has this led to? We may never know. I’m sure civil liability lawyers are preparing an incomplete list as we speak. Regardless, his “private knowledge” of the dangers and his continued reckless behavior should be ample grounds for criminal charges.

Of course, there may be those who will argue for a lesser charge of “reckless endangerment,” but I leave that to the judicial scholars. But will these charges ever see the light of day? And how does one bring to justice the 70 million co-conspirators [47% of the known electorate] who endorsed, and continue to endorse, his policy of reckless denial? Will a nation founded on the idea of “equal justice” ever fulfill its duties? Doubtful. Ideals are only met when accepted by an honorable people and affirmed by honorable leaders. We are, sadly, in short supply of both.

Equal justice, to quote a phrase, “happens only in the movies.” So where do we go from here? To quote another phrase - “Mediocrity! Mediocrity!”

• Paul Wheeler grew up in Oak Lawn and now lives with his wife in the Ottawa area. He is a paraeducator in Ottawa. He can be reached at tsloup@shawmedia.com.