Obey the Will of Frod. . .

                There’s a great article in the Guardian by Jonathan Freeland that you ought to read right now. Go ahead:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/12/societies-referees-judges-scientists-journalists-powerful

                You’re welcome. Not that any of it was a surprise to you, but Freeland’s good at articulating that sort of thing. So Frump attacks the media, academia, attacks the scientists, and most crucially of all, attacks the judiciary, because he can’t stand anyone getting in his way. In short, he’s pushing for a world in which he, and Big People like him, can do whatever the hell he wants. Authoritarians the world over shout “Amen!”.

                Did you notice the bit about rich drivers in California routinely ignoring pedestrian crossings? This probably won’t surprise you either, especially if you spend any amount of time on the 403, but I for one kept telling myself it was confirmation bias. Turns out we weren’t imagining it after all: rich folks in their fancy cars really don’t obey the rules.

                Naturally, all this brings me to mind of our own glorious Frumpian wannabe, Premier Thug Frod. And not just for the obvious reasons.

                When Frod’s brother Rob was Mayor of Toronto, he once brazenly admitted that he often took the carpool lanes to avoid traffic. Without actually car-pooling. For me, it was the story that stood out the most, and was most emblematic of his leadership, even though it was probably the least of his wrong-doings.  It just captured so succinctly his complete lack of idealism or higher-order thinking. Nevermind the rules. Nevermind his responsibilities as a public servant. No question of leading by example by actually following the rules. No consideration at all for the reasons the rules are in place or what the rules are intended to accomplish. Rob had to get somewhere and Rob did what he had to do, and no pesky rule was going get in Rob’s way. Is it any surprise then, that the Rob Ford mayorality collapsed into an internationally ridiculed gong-show?

                And the enlightened voters of Ontario loved it so much they put his brother in charge of the whole friggin’ province. . .

                One of the first things the Frod dynasty, with its history of respecting rules https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/globe-investigation-the-ford-familys-history-with-drug-dealing/article12153014/),

                did was to go after the “unelected judges”. No mere judge is slow down Thug Ford – he’ll just use a “Nothwithstanding Clause” to ignore the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms altogether. (We can thank the infinite far-sightedness of the senior Trudeau government for that one).   Pardon me if I’m less than thrilled. 

                When Frod calls the judges “unelected”, he’s basically saying “who the fuck are these buggers telling me what to do? I can do whatever I want.” I am not certain that politicians should be able to do whatever they want. Nor am I impressed with his invoking of the “will of the people.”  The will of the people favoured slavery and the Nazi invasion of Poland as well. The braying mobs aren’t always right about everything – the courts ensure that the “will of the people” is carried out in ways that don’t get other people killed.  They should not be undermined at whim.

                The courts basically exist to guarantee your rights. The courts ensure the State cannot do as it pleases with you. The courts see do it that politicians do not overstay their welcome and treat their positions as personal pfiefdoms. The courts ensure you are not tortured in jail, no matter how many votes that might win. The courts guarantee you can piss-off any politician you like.

By way of comparison, let’s have a look at an administration that doesn’t have an independent judiciary.

When the Meng Wanzhou, the Precious Princess of Huawei, was arrested in Vancouver, the Chinese Government threw a hissy fit and detained no less that 13 Canadians in retaliation. Now you may believe that the authorities just happened to have credible dirt on all 13, and just happed to find it right after Meng’s arrest, in which case I’ve got a Nigerian prince on the phone dying to talk to you.

Now most of those, fortunately, have bee released, but Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, are still in custody. They’ve been subject to sleep deprivation, denied legal representation, regular consular services (once a month) and contact with their families. They are hostages of a petty, thin-skinned, vindictive regime that do whatever it wants to people within its borders. They’re certainly not restrained by unelected judges!

Speaking of judges and courts, the People’s Republic didn’t stop there: they dusted off the old case of Robert Schellenberg, a drug smuggler sentenced to life, and sentenced him to death instead. Angry at Canada for obeying its laws and treaties? Grab a Canadian and kill him.

Now there will doubtless be some knuckle dragging troglodytes of the get-tough-on-crime variety who will snarl that Schellenberg is simply getting what was always coming to him: break a country’s laws and suffer the country’s punishment. The thing they should get through their thick skulls is: Schellenberg was punished. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced. He was serving his sentence. That’s how justice works. Then the Party threw a tantrum and changed the sentence in a fit of pique. That is not how justice works. Criminal sentences are not supposed to be subject to political whim: a sentence is binding, in accordance with a set of laws. They’re not supposed to be changed when it’s politically expedient, still less to exert pressure diplomatic spats.

Our “unelected judges” see to it that citizens know what they’re getting. They will have the opportunity to defend themselves, they will not be subject to torture, they know what they are being accused of, and what their punishments will consist of. The government cannot say to you on morning “actually, you’re more useful to us dead”. That’s what happens in China, where the law is whatever the strongmen say it is. Where the Powers that Be can do whatever they want, whenever they want.

So you will see why I’m less than enthused by Frod’s contempt for “unelected judges”. This from the man who would cheerfully use a “non-withstanding” clause to ignore the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. When it comes to upholding and respecting my rights, I’ll go with the judges over him any day.