Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

We must back up our promises

“This every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle,” President Ronald Reagan said.

The reason for the miracle is that there has been a tacit agreement of what our norms will be. We have also agreed upon the reinforcement of those norms.

This is akin to the idea of justice. Real justice must be blind, the scales must be balanced, and punishment must be meted out equally and evenly.

Lately, those who were to serve as our backstop have been absent. Work is needed to ensure that this every-four-year miracle continues. Without the work, the Constitution is nothing more than ink on parchment. Without accountability, those in high positions can run roughshod over our norms. Without the support, protesters are made to feel as idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

When support, accountability and work are missing from those in high positions, they are nothing more than absentee slumlords who want the exorbitant rent paid on time but will not fix a leaky faucet, replace the broken railings that will keep children safe or call an exterminator to get rid of the infestation.

This is why so many know that there is no justice. We know that she keeps peeking under the blindfold to see a defendant’s race and socio-economic class. The actual miracle will come from tacit agreements becoming more than words. They must be honored. We are nothing if we do not do what we said we would do.