“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
These words were penned by our founders more than 200 years ago in the Declaration of Independence. Our founders believed so strongly in these principles that they risked everything, including death, and viewed these ideals as the cornerstone of our democracy. Principles held so firmly that they were cast into the law to direct our elected, that government is directed by the people.
Our elected [officials] now believe that it is the people who work for them. That they get to decide, without direction from their constituents, how to conduct themselves. This is demonstrated by the actions of the Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Ms. Peters-Baker has engaged in her reinterpretation of the law and how to enforce it. One has to look no further than her refusal to prosecute those engaged in destruction of private and public property, assaulting private citizens and police officers, and in her participation in what she determined to be “peaceful protests”. She has also chosen to ignore laws that have stood for decades, such as “hot pursuit” and “reasonable suspicion,” as she has declared war on those that seek to enforce the law and protect the citizens of Kansas City.
Our founders went to great lengths to outline the duties of government, to make clear that the role of government was to provide for the common defense of the people and establish justice. To establish the judicial system to provide the people a means to redress grievances and wrongdoing in a fair and impartial manner. To divide the government into three equal, but separate branches, lest one branch step outside their boundaries, and the elected attempt to wrest the power of their elected positions from those that elected them. Ms. Peters-Baker has embarked on just such a journey. She has all but declared herself as a sovereign. She has declared her allegiance to her own political view, and doctrine, and in doing so has engaged in a gross abuse of the power of her office. She no longer holds to the ideals of “justice for all,” that “justice is blind,” or the foundation of law that one is “innocent until proven guilty.” As she has embarked on her campaign against the police, indicting officers on her own initiatives, then engaging the media, and other sympathetic outlets to further her personal objectives. One needs only read her request to the US Attorney General to come to this conclusion. In that letter she states that “Officers indicted on charges are still employed by the Kansas City Police Department.” Have these charges been adjudicated by a court of law? Have they been found guilty of these offenses by a jury of their peers? In her press conferences, and repeated statements, she has sought not to seek justice in a court of law but instead to convict in the court of public opinion. Now she seeks to engage the federal government’s assistance in her pursuit of her perception of justice and in doing so seeks to deny these officers their freedoms of life and liberty.
I would ask the people of Jackson County, and Kansas City, is this the type of jurisprudence our founders had in mind? It is apparent that Ms. Peters-Baker’s idea of justice is mob rule and vigilantism. That political correctness is preferable to a court of law, and that one’s personal views supersede the rules of law. I should point out that the path Ms. Peters-Baker is paving is identical to that laid by the Fascists, Nazis, and Communists. To crush the opposition, silence the people, and rule by force. To deny democracy, and the people, and declare allegiance only to themselves and those that stand in support of them and their chosen causes. To abuse the power of their office and position for their sole personal gain.
Charles H. Porch
