I pulled into Nazareth, was feeling ’bout half past dead
I just need some place where I can lay my head
Hey, mister, can you tell me, where a man might find a bed?
He just grinned and shook my hand, “No” was all he said.
The Band, The Weight
In June of this year, I posted about how lawyers and judges are leading the fight against the attack on our American Institutions (Common Sense). You can find fine articles addressing the durability of American institutions from opposing points of view here and here.
We look to be at a crossroads of some kind, led by a disruptor and a gang of characters that could have been pulled out of a Scorsese film (not necessarily a bad thing). Depending on the time or day, it is difficult to catch your breath from all the activity – that doesn’t appear to amount to anything of much substance.
I go back and forth on the relative fragility of our democratic system. At times, we seem so feverishly polarized that it might rend us apart. But history shows us how – even in our relatively short history – this has happened before. My gut instinct is to rely on the intuitions and genius of our Founders and their bitter struggle to fashion a new kind of government. We are not wholly democratic like Ancient Greece. Or a pure republic like Old Italy. And certainly not a modified monarchy, like Great Britain. Our representative democracy relies heavily on both the risible chaos of direct democracy (House of Representatives) and the leavening influence of indirect representation (Senate). My blog tends to focus on the third branch and, especially, on the Constitutional right to jury trial as discussed in our early series on jury trials. See, What is a Jury Trial (No. 1)?
On most days, I’m relatively impressed that our institutions have not crumbled or even buckled much under the pressure – especially Branch3. But it’s only July.
I’ll be doing some more personal or family history posts because of the response to some of the recent ones. I greatly appreciate the time taken by friends and strangers to read and share their thoughts. Please keep coming back. The Daily Posts will continue to focus on news of the day, particularly as it concerns the legal and healthcare landscape. As current legal topics present themselves, we’ll take timeout from the personal for that as well. It’s a pleasure to share my thoughts here and I hope to cultivate a respectful safe place where clients, potential clients, referral partners and friends can come to lighten their load and mine.
