patrick.net

A compromised legal system leads to loss of faith in political institutions and in our political system: It is this contrast between the shielding and immunity that the elite class has vested in themselves, versus the extraordinarily unprecedented harsh and merciless punishment system imposed on everyone else...[which] is the most responsible factor resulting in the loss of faith in our political system and political institutions.

Me: Absolutely right, but it goes beyond the political spectrum. We're experiencing a crisis of confidence in our society that is turning us against everything: each other, the government, politicians, lawyers, doctors, etc.. And you can chalk it up the division between those who are prosecuted by the law, and those who are protected by it. It ain't fair and it ain't right.

This is the end game of a society whose leadership embraces Rational Choice Theory (strongly promoted and endorsed by Crony Capitalist Think Tanks) and Game Theory developed largely by a Paranoid Schizophrenic named Nash, who had to be forcibly institutionalized because of his fear that Jews and people in Red Ties were out to get him.

Looks like Public Goods were important all along, as everybody from Adam Smith to John Locke knew centuries ago.

True but it's nothing new. The USA has always been this way.

His point is that although the US has always protected elites, we at least held out justice before the law as an ideal. We have now abandoned that as an ideal. Now we have to deal with ubiquitous crony capitalism without having rule-of-law as even an aspiration. Makes for a pretty bleak outlook.