Letter: Are we really better off today?

Are we better off now than before the American Revolution? We have a political system that caters to big money/big business, political action committees and power hungry officials. Most laws are initiated and lobbied through by the above, but not by (and even against the will of) the common citizen. They've given us nanny laws, possession laws and favored status for law enforcement personnel.

Whatever happened to equal justice for all? Favored status for certain people or groups. Entrapment practices by law enforcement personnel to coax someone into a violation (tobacco stings). Jurors kept ignorant of their Constitutional rights. Anyone who does know his or her Constitutional right is dismissed from jury duty, so the prosecution ends up with 'intimidated puppets” willing to feed the defendant to the lions to satisfy a prosecution program which has filled our prisons with non-violent, nondangerous inmates. Someone gets a greater penalty for simple possession of something than someone else gets for murder.

Law enforcement raid/attack citizens' homes. Whatever happened to 'safe and secure from government intrusion?” Was it this bad in the old Soviet Union? The only search warrants immediately after the American Revolution were to look for 'stolen property or escaped convicts,” but not to search for something officials believed was unhealthy for the occupants.

Herman Lenz

Sumner