Let's Hear It For Our Peers

Ghislaine Maxwell, alleged procurer of underage girls for now-deceased pedophile (can I drop the 'allegeds' yet?) Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted on five of six counts associated with those procurements. Despite having the best legal representation money can buy.

Good.

While we, as distant and unconnected third parties, have only second-, third-, and fourth-hand (plus the occasional video and audio) information upon which to base our judgments, and so should be reserved in our conclusion-drawing, there are times we can come to reasonably justified conclusions. To this vaguely interested observer, it seemed pretty clear that Maxwell did bad things. Fortunately, we have a system wherein people like us are afforded the opportunity to hear all sides of a tale, professionally presented and overseen, and render judgment upon those accused of bad acts.

This system, while not perfect, has been working pretty well of late in high-profile cases. Maxwell got convicted. Kim Potter got convicted. Kyle Rittenhouse got acquitted. Andrew Coffee got acquitted. Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan Jr. got convicted.

All correct verdicts, in my opinion, and all evidence that "average joes" are capable of getting things right.

This should hearten us all. It should also cast shade on the assertions of the authoritarians, technocrats, and assorted Best-and-Brightest who feel and act as if the masses cannot be trusted to their own devices, or to make decisions for themselves.

Which elicits Willam F. Buckley's famous quip,

I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty.

And Milton Friedman's query to Phil Donahue,

Just tell me where in the world you find these angels who are going to organize society for us?

And an exchange between Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin:

Aubrey: Men must be governed! Often not wisely, but governed nonetheless.

Maturin: That's the excuse of every tyrant in history, from Nero to Bonaparte. I, for one, am opposed to authority. It is an egg of misery and oppression.

Amongst the massive dysfunction in our legislative and executive branches of government, and despite the (legislature-created) revolving-door crime-chaos, it's good to see the jury system working as intended (when it has the opportunity to do so), and stand resolute against both the power of massive wealth and the pressure of race demagoguery.

So, come tomorrow's New Year's toast, take a moment to tipple in allegiance with and to each other. Average folks getting it right.