During the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign, then-Senator John Edwards gained notoriety for a line in his standard “stump speech” about “two Americas.”  He said, “Today, under George W. Bush, there are two Americas, not one: One America that does the work, another that reaps the reward.  One America that pays the taxes, another America that gets the tax breaks.  One America - middle-class America - whose needs Washington has long forgotten, another America - narrow-interest America - whose every wish is Washington's command.  One America that is struggling to get by, another America that can buy anything it wants… even a Congress and a president.”

I never thought I’d say this (after all, what do I have in common with a guy who’d pay $400 for a haircut?), but I have to agree with Edwards.  There are two Americas…

For example, if Paris Hilton were the daughter of a wealthy and powerful conservative (one of George Bush’s daughters?), and not a wealthy liberal Democrat heiress, she would never have been sent home after serving only three days of a 23-day sentence and the mainstream media would have been on the case like ticks on a dog, calling for a life sentence.  Yes, there are two Americas.

 

Sandy Berger, former Clinton National Security Advisor, was sent on a mission to the National Archives.  The purpose of his mission was to study Clinton era documents in preparation for his and the former president’s testimony before the 9/11 Commission, many containing handwritten marginal notes made by Clinton, White House terrorism czar Richard Clark, and Berger, himself.  In three separate visits to the Archives, Berger was seen stuffing classified documents into his socks and his pants pockets… documents which he later destroyed.

 

Berger pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and was given a mere slap on the wrist.  There is no doubt that if he’d served as a senior advisor to a former Republican president, he would now be serving a long prison term in a federal prison.  Democrats and their friends in the mainstream media would have been satisfied with nothing less.  There are two justice systems… one for Democrats and another for Republicans. 

 

“Scooter” Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was called before a grand jury investigating the “outing” of CIA analyst Valerie Plame.  And although the special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, knew early on that no underlying crime had been committed, he would not be satisfied until he could find some perceived crime, no matter how small or insignificant, to justify his own existence. 

 

In numerous appearances before the grand jury, Libby tried very hard to recall specific details of conversations he’d had with various reporters two or three years earlier.  Some recollections did not agree with reporters notes and he was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.  If only Libby had been a white liberal, a member of a Democratic administration, he would never have been indicted and he would not be facing thirty months in prison for the crime of having an incomplete memory.  Instead, he is yet another victim of the “two Americas.”

 

On the evening of June 12, 1994, former NFL star running back O.J. Simpson went to the Brentwood, California home of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.  He found his wife speaking with an acquaintance, Ron Goldman, at the front gate of her townhouse, drew a knife, and brutally slaughtered both of them. 

 

In the process of slitting the throats of his victims, Simpson suffered a deep gash in one of his fingers.  Numerous drops of his blood were found on the sidewalk leading away from the scene, smudges of Goldman’s blood were found inside Simpson’s white Ford Bronco, a trail of blood was found on the driveway at Simpson’s home, and splatters of the victims’ blood were later found on a pair of brown socks in Simpson’s bedroom. 

 

The evidence against Simpson was overwhelming… it proved an open-and-shut case of premeditated murder.  But Simpson was found not guilty by a Los Angeles jury.  Simpson satisfied all the measures of guilt… motive, means, and opportunity… and the physical evidence pointed only to him.  But not only was Simpson a black sports hero, he had the money to buy the most unscrupulous team of lawyers that money could buy.  If Simpson had been a white man… rich, poor, or middle class… instead of a wealthy black sports hero, he’d be on death row today. 

 

Yes, there are “two Americas,” but not in the way that John Edwards sees them.  The two Americas that Edwards sees exist only in the minds of Democrats when they’re on the campaign trail, pandering for votes among the poor, the uneducated, the uninformed, the misinformed, and the criminal class.