Ever hear the expression “What’s good for the goose is good for the ganderâ€? Generally, it means we should apply the same standard to ourselves as we apply to others.
Take for example judicial sentencing. There are “people in our country†that believe our current judges are too lenient. They aren’t to be trusted and should be replaced with tough, bullet-biting arbiters that will throw the proverbial “book†at all who come before them.
Enter Reggie B. Walton. A tough, bullet-biting former federal prosecutor and Superior Court judge. One couldn’t have asked central-casting for a better character.
And once on the federal bench, he did not disappoint. Known as “long ball†(hint – he’s not a well-known baseball player), Judge Walton throws nothing but fast balls. No curve balls for him.
But lo and behold, someone new scoots before his judicial bench. This scooter is judged by his peers, is found guilty and Judge Walton throws another fast ball.
One would think that the “people in our country†would be happy. A tough judge not being lenient. A book having been thrown. But alas, they weren’t happy at all.
The person who the book is being thrown at turns out to be one of those who provided the book to the thrower in the first place. He’s one of them. He’s one of the “people in our countryâ€.
But the political buzz emanating from the “people in our country†isn’t about this weird irony, it’s about how unfairly the book was thrown. Instead of a hardball, it should have been a softball.
At the conclusion, the ruler of the “people in our countryâ€, who also happens to be the “decider†of the game, takes the ball and throws it away.
Not sure who the goose is. Or the gander. What I do know, however, is that it was the American people who got cooked.
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