The legal system works well for the big corporations and investors and multi-millionaires and billionaires - they can play the legal "game" and often get what they want. On the other hand, the legal system works badly for the average person, the innocent man or woman who is getting financially destroyed or jailed, or banned from seeing children that they care for and love.
Some time ago in the USA, the decision was firmed up by the big powers of wealth that control America, to make the legal system the tool of control and fear of the American people. This began its current phase approximately in the 1970s, when the USA restored the death penalty after not using it for nearly 10 years, like other advanced nations. It was also about this time that the general fear of 'lawsuits' began to be fostered, making 'getting sued and bankrupted' a general fear for nearly every small business and middle-class individual on USA territory. And whereas before that time, the USA had very low percentages of its people in jail, more in line with Western Europe, the jailing of USA common people, especially minority young males, was ramped up heavily, until the USA became the biggest jailing nation in the world.
Since then, the system of increasing legal terrorism has worked very well for the oligarchy. It is an implicit deal of quiet understanding. You don't need to believe in a conspiracy, or any central control, to realise that slowly over time, a natural convergence of interest has come about, between the judges and lawyers on the one hand, and the corporations and wealthiest people on the other.
The deal goes something like this. The big corporations said, "Look here, judges, we will give you nearly total control over life in America. You will be supreme, in charge, you will get to bend and twist the law around any way you want. You will get to bend and twist the Constitution or any laws passed by the legislature, and the facts of any particular case, to suit your whims and preferences. You judges and lawyers can get filthy rich from all sorts of lawsuits and from bribery. You judges will even get to totally control America's lawyers, who will even be afraid to file papers or say things in court, without advance approval from you judges. You will be able to get instant revenge on lawyers who dare to question you, or who don't play along with your bribery games."
The corporations continued: "Everyone will be afraid of you judges, and no one will be able to question you and your lawyer friends, even when you commit crimes of fraud and extortion and bribery in broad daylight, and conduct fake trials. Even the legislators, whom we corporations also control through the money we give them to win elections, will not dare to impeach you. Everyone will spout little schoolbook phrases about 'the rule of law' and 'respecting the judgement of the court'. The big media organisations, whom we corporations also own and control, will be afraid to print news stories that expose the real workings of the law or the courts. You judges, and many of the lawyers who play the game with you, will be very rich, and very powerful. You will be the ultimate high agents of the American empire."
The corporations went on: "All you need to do is make sure that the American people stay under your thumb, and that you judges serve the big corporations and rich people on the really important big issues. You can sometimes let people win some lawsuits, especially some of those personal-injury cases that create such good legal fees and opportunities for bribery. The American people can look at the courts as a kind of casino, where they might win a million dollars, even though most people will really lose money and get destroyed. You judges will be in charge of this whole game. But on the really big issues, you judges will take sides with the big companies, or with the government and politicians, who also work for the big companies and multi-millionaire investors."
The corporations continued: "You judges will do everything you can to see that democracy is kept limited and under control. You will see that the courts make the big decisions, not the people, and not the legislators who can be influenced by people visiting their offices. You will see that the highest power remains in the hands of federal judges, who cannot even be fired or transferred out of a job. In general, you judges will work to see that the common people are afraid and terrified of the legal system. You will use your powers to keep people in check, and hinder political parties or political movements that are not owned by the big companies. Sometimes you will see that critics are shut up and jailed."
The corporations continued: "You will send millions of people to prison, and some thousands of people to death, you judges will be in charge of the biggest gulag prison system in the entire world. You will be in charge of the jail and the terror of the American people. You will destroy the lives of so many little people, making them broke and separating them from their families and making them worry about money and going to jail and losing their children, so they will not be able to organise themselves and fight the big companies. You will encourage fear and hatred, you will help make the middle class to be afraid of the poor, you will help stir up fear between different races and religious groups."
The corporations also noted: "And you judges don't worry about any honest judges arising amongst you, judges who may decide they don't want to co-operate with bribery and serving corporations. All complaints against judges will be kept on file. 99% per cent of them will be ignored - Just like the USA Supreme Court refuses to hear arguments in 99% of the appeals filed there. But if any judge starts to be independent, well you and our legislator friends can blackmail the judges with some of those old complaints in the files. And ultimately too, we can use some death squads against judges, just like we can use them against journalists, congress people, or senators, even presidents. After a judge rules against the government or oligarchy, we can shoot them dead on the street [Federal Judge John Roll shot dead on an Arizona street in 2011]. Even a Supreme Court Justice can suddenly turn up dead [Antonin Scalia found dead with a pillow over his face in 2016, no autopsy was ordered]."
The corporations concluded: "The American people will be deceived and manipulated and fearful and helpless to fight you. You judges, and we corporations, we will maintain power together, and we will be rich together. You judges will be the most powerful people in the most powerful country in the world. And we corporations will gladly pay you well for it. Together we will inhibit and limit democracy, we will stop whatever laws and lawsuits and political movements, that will threaten to limit the profits and power of the corporations, or which try to limit the power games of you judges and lawyers. We will rule America together, because it is the only way to rule America to our maximum benefit. We will laugh and call it 'democracy' and the 'rule of law', even whilst American people live in fear, and become powerless and have their rights taken away. The rule of law will become the rule of lawyers, under the judges who exercise supreme power for the big corporations."
Perhaps no conversation exactly like this took place - But it is a fairly good statement of the quiet understanding that exists, between America's corporate powers and wealthy investors, on the other hand, and the judges and lawyers who control America's legal system.
If the legal system did not control, manipulate, and divide the USA people, there would be more popular democracy, more political parties, less abuse of the average person, and smaller profits for the richest people and big corporations, if Americans could win back their rights that they have lost.
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