We’ve all seen it. The corruption of the Supreme Court. Everyday it seems that a new scandal erupts from the Court. Decisions based on politics rather than the law. The Court as an institution has been destroyed. The reputations of several Justices destroyed and the once valued credibility of the Court in ashes. It continues on a daily basis. The rule of law has succumbed to the expediency of political gain.
Any semblance of objectivity is tossed aside. The Court is basically giving the middle finger to the American people and saying to them “So what? This is the way it is going to be and there is nothing you peons can do about it.”
One of the benefits of great literature is, among others, it’s predictive value. I believe that the Court’s downfall was predictable. If you have the ability to see great literature in therms of metaphors, the Court’s downfall could be predicted in Shakespeare, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides. It is also predicted in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.
Moby Dick is the story of an obsession. Captain Ahab is consumed by his need for revenge against the white whale, Moby Dick. Full of symbolism and metaphor, the Novel tells of Ahab’s search for the whale and his desire to kill him. Near the book’s conclusion the whale has been spotted.
In a poignant moment Ahab is speaking to the the first mate, Starbuck, who is trying to warn Ahab of the prophecies and warnings about pursuing the beast. Ahab is not persuaded. But Ahab's glance was averted; like a blighted fruit tree he shook, and cast his last, cindered apple to the soil.
Ahab tries blaming God. He asks, “Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm?… But if the great sun move not of himself; but is as an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not…Where do murderers go, man! Who's to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to the bar?
In other words, Ahab has no choice but to commit himself to God’s will. It is foreordained that Ahab kill the white whale.
But it is the question Ahab asks that I want to focus on. “Who’s to doom (blame) when the judge himself is dragged to the bar? From time immemorial, stories, myths, and legends have all asked this question. From modern films like A Civil Action to ancient stories like Perceval’s search got the holy grail, the theme has been corruption in high places seeping down to the ordinary citizen. The rot starts in high places. Rot like a corrupt SCOTUS taking favors and money while making decisions that favor the rich and powerful seeps throughout society like mold on a damp rotted wood beam.
Yet these powerful criminals in high places get off while the rest of us who have been contaminated by the moldy rot pay the price.
Whose to blame when the judge himself is dragged to the bar?
