Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: yard_man who wrote (2265)	11/23/1998 4:16:00 PM
From: sea_urchin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81857

I hope we can sidestep the Clinton issue. To be perfectly frank, I don't know where I am with the law. Or, what the rule of law means in practice although, I imagine, I do know what it is supposed to mean. I live in South Africa. Under the previous (apartheid) regime the country had a set of laws. When the ANC took over, criminals detained by the previous regime were immediately released. That includes murderers, thieves --- you name it --- not just politicals. Called amnesty. The laws were changed. New judges appointed. There was an outcry for the previous judges to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to confess their misdeeds under apartheid and beg forgiveness. Nurenberg trials were mooted. Now, the country is riddled with criminality and corruption, including the bureaucracy. The government has appointed a commission of enquiry to investigate the situation. Whenever the commission finds a particular ANC government official guilty or responsible for corruption/maladministration, the President, Vice President or Minister of Justice says the commission is wrong. There was a case in which the judge found in favour of a previous rugby football "boss" and against Saint Mandela. The Minister of Justice deprecated the decision and riled against the judge calling him an apartheid lackey. So, in my experience which includes, previously, living in a fascist state and now in a socialist "democracy", the law is the servant of the ruler and not of the ruled. There are no absolutes. Sauce for the goose is definitely not sauce for the gander. From what you say, this would seem to parallel your experience.