I Never Considered Myself Naive

I never thought that the law applied equally to rich people and poor people. I never considered myself that naive. I had always understood that rich people could break the law in ways that poor people simply couldn't.

But I had always assumed that the way this worked in practice was that being rich just came with a heightened ability to cover your tracks. I had always assumed that, rich or poor, it was of supreme importance not to get caught, and that being rich simply bought you more options in that regard. Maybe you could bribe a police officer, or a judge, and make the charges go away. Maybe you could afford to hire someone to do the dirty work for you, or take the fall for you if it came to that.

But, and here's where I was a profoundly naive, I had always assumed that if, for whatever reason, you were caught, and it was blindingly clear, from a legal standpoint, that you did the thing of which you were accused, then, rich or poor, you'd be charged and convicted. Like...I had always assumed, for example, that if you committed a murder and it was caught on camera then, rich or poor, it was game over for you.

What's that expression about assuming things?

What the past few years have taught me, of course, is that this is bullshit. Once you reach a certain level of wealth, you don't even have to cover your tracks. You can brazenly commit your crimes in broad daylight, and you just have to convince the right people not to care. To ignore the evidence of their eyes and ears. And, of course, it doesn't hurt that the highest court in the land says that the law just...doesn't apply to you.

I'm not trying to sound dramatic, but the last few years have broken whatever paltry sense of justice I used to have. Laws only matter if people are willing to enforce them, and I don't believe there's anyone left in power to do so.