The concept of equality is woven deeply into the fabric of the American mind and culture, even from our very founding, and it’s not hard to see why. The English monarchy inherently created a society with a defined class structure, and our break from that country rejected the class system in all of its forms.
Equality has been enshrined in our founding documents. In the first two sentences of the Declaration of Independence, the word “equal” is mentioned twice, with the most cited reference being something that even grade school children can articulate: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal…”
We cherish the concept so much that we recognize not just our inherent equality as human beings, but the critical importance of being treated equally under the law. It’s a concept grounded in our faith and biblical principles as well: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly,” (Leviticus 19:15).
The 14th Amendment was a partial codification of the concept into our system of law. In 1891, Chief Justice Melville Fuller wrote, “By the Fourteenth Amendment, the powers of the states in dealing with crime within their borders are not limited, but no state can deprive particular persons or classes of persons of equal and impartial justice under the law.”
Virginia Tosses Equality Out the Window
Two-tiered systems of laws and rules are an affront to red-blooded Americans on the molecular level. However there is a pernicious and insidious class system creeping back into American society, and it is ironically coming straight out of our own government.
It’s not difficult to think of examples at the federal level: brazen and open insider trading in Congress along with an exemption from healthcare mandates are recent occurrences.
However the most worrisome double standard is when a governing body attempts to disarm a population AND exempts itself from the same laws. That’s exactly what happened in Virginia this week when the legislature put forth a number of gun control measures and wrote exemptions into the law for themselves.
One such example is HB110 which introduces penalties on persons who leave handguns in unattended vehicles. A subsection of the bill states, “The provisions of this section shall not apply to any member of the General Assembly who leaves a handgun in an unattended motor vehicle… when such vehicle is parked in any parking structure reserved for members of the General Assembly.” (The measure was removed after strong public backlash.)
That is one example of many. The January bill to ban “assault weapons” – which currently sits on Governor Spanberger’s desk – creates exemptions for law enforcement (who are also only private citizens).
The mere fact that the Virginia legislature has the temerity to put forth bills that violate the concept of equal protection under the law tells us that we’re at an inflection point in history. In Virginia at least, we’ve fully reverted to a government that subjugates the citizens it is designed to serve with a dangerous class system that nullifies rights of the general population and bestows special liberties upon the ruling “elites.”
We’ve come full circle, and the irony of it happening in one of the 13 original colonies should be a wakeup call to all Americans.
