Protecting the opinions and rights of the minority

was once the brilliance of the Constitution. It ensured that a small segment of the population was not discriminated against and overrun by the prejudices of a majority. The concept worked best during the Civil Rights Era. Think: Individual rights.

In principle our Constitution is based on the fact that everyone has an equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It's a pretty thought, but in actuality, it's not working because it appears that some of us have a greater right to life, liberty and a pursuit of happiness than others. During the era of regulation, government use to be the honest broker, ensuring there was a balance. But, no more.

I can see it mostly from a local level. We have community leaders and elected officials colluding with one another and it has undermined every aspect of our society. They cement their relationships through public-private partnerships which are hatched from pseudo government meetings. (think: illegal) By engaging in this form of conduct, government gives these programs "legitimacy" even when the programs are the product of secret meetings between the main parties. Anyone who tries to expose what they are doing wrong are bullied by the community leaders and ostracized by their supporters. It's government sanctioned racketeering.

When business owners become part of this ruse, the potential for corruption increases because they are the ones who can selectively reward new recruits with jobs offers. As the corrupt circle grows, it makes it easier to ostracize all those who are wondering what happened to "honest" government. Instead, we now have a "I got mine, you get yours" form of society.

Do not expect politicians to help you because they also feed at the trough by accepting donations from these unscrupulous people. In what should be the greatest shocker, many of these ruthless individuals are lawyers who work in public government. They are in the best position to look the other way when elected officials begin to conduct government business outside of legal, acceptable parameters. For example, a city attorney can look the other way as a commissioner breaks the dual office rule and takes on several leadership roles in county positions. In return, the city attorney can approach her at the county level, lobbying on behalf of his private client.

This is what actually happened to me. A city attorney did nothing to stop a city commissioner from accepting several county board positions. He then went before her at the county level to lobby a cause on behalf of his client. In the same year, she was busy using her county position to set up an illegal meeting that would bring together a developer and the rest of the city commissioners in an obvious breach of the Sunshine Laws. From there, things would snowball into an avalanche of fraud, conspiracy and cover-ups.

The law enforcement agencies knew about all this and did nothing. I, as a minority member, spent years trying to expose it and they all turned their backs because it would have exposed a corrupt network in this county. It crosses the line between public and private sector. So don't blame just government, since it's their collusion with the stalwarts in the private sector which is creating the inequities in our society.

The only person who bested them, did it in federal court. I think it cost him nearly half a million dollars in lawyer fees.

Trust me when I tell you that only a combination of federal attention and constant public outrage to spur them on to do their fucking jobs, will anything change.