Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)

US founded on common sense; preserved by good sense

Will we get what we deserve? America is in the throes of an evolution. We see the world around us struggling to stay afloat amidst a sea of discord.

Whether it is the continuing saga of the Middle East in which many Arab countries continue to do their best to tear Israel asunder while those who know better do nothing, or the potential of painfully reliving the past — we have just witnessed the 80th anniversar­y of the D-day invasion celebratin­g the United States and its allies’ valiant effort to rid the world of the Nazi scourge — through the lens of Ukraine being invaded and manhandled by the tyrant Vladimir Putin.

As Ukraine begs the free world for help — much like Great Britain and the Allies did when Hitler marched over them at will — Americans must decide who we want to be, who we need to be, if ever we want our children to continue to live in this greatest democracy the world has known.

I write this in the context of an election that is fast approachin­g and the cries by many heard around the country for the courts to help us in this time of great confusion.

Simply put, never has our country had to grapple with the prospect of a former president being sat in the criminal dock to face more felony charges than some of the worst our society has produced. And never have our fellow countrymen been so divided over the issue of law and order without a jury verdict to help them frame the matter.

It is unlikely that a jury of our peers — you know, the system of justice all of us at one point agreed was the best we could muster — will get to sit in judgment of Donald Trump, at least for the most important of his alleged crimes, before the Nov. 5 election. Whether it be wellpaid lawyers doing their best to delay the dictates of justice or the justices on one bench or another marching to their own calendars and not the political calendar looming large over America’s life, the fact remains that the most people will know about Trump and his run-ins with the law will be the 34 felony counts for which he was recently convicted.

His role in advancing an insurrecti­on at the Capitol during which policemen were attacked and deaths did occur; or his role in secreting top-secret documents in his bathroom in violation of federal law; or his role in trying to change the lawful vote of Americans so he could change the 2020 presidenti­al election to his favor; all of that will have to wait until another day.

And that fact alone is leaving many voters — for some reason — unsure of just how they will vote in November.

It cannot be that the people don’t trust themselves enough to make this decision, can it?

Just because the court system has inexplicab­ly decided to remain uncontamin­ated by the most important issue of our day — I can remember when the court couldn’t wait to get involved in a presidenti­al election — that doesn’t mean we can’t draw on the court’s wisdom to help us decide on our own.

In every criminal jury trial, the judge directs the jury to use its common sense. He tells them that they shouldn’t leave at the courtroom door what they know to be true and right and just, what they know to make sense.

After all, common sense is what most people, at one time or another, have in common!

We don’t need a jury to tell us that what Trump is accused of doing — with all proper admonition­s applying that a person’s guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt and until then he is presumed innocent — is not only serious but seriously harmful to our democracy.

Our common sense tells us the answer that a jury won’t be able to in time for the election. And the judge would tell us it is OK — no, obligatory — to rely on our common sense.

I have recently watched the series “Franklin,” with Michael Douglas. It is the story of Benjamin Franklin’s efforts to woo France to the side of the colonists in their quest to break free from Mother England during the Revolution­ary War.

He was dramatical­ly successful, as all of the history books will attest. In doing so, Franklin is explaining this new idea of America to the French minister who championed America’s cause to the French king. The minister felt aggrieved that after all France had done for the colonists in their quest to win their independen­ce from Great Britain, Franklin had bested him by doing a deal with the British and leaving France out in the cold.

So he asked Franklin what the fight was all about. Franklin told him the fight was for an idea, an idea very different from the monarchy under which he lived and against which America had just prevailed. “That a free people may govern themselves, guided by common sense and a belief in the greater good.”

To which the Frenchman asked, “And if they lack common sense?”

Franklin’s answer should give us all pause. “Then I suppose they shall get what they deserve.”

America doesn’t need a jury verdict to tell us what our common sense screams for all to hear. What we need to do is listen.

For if we leave our common sense at the polling place door, Franklin’s fear may come to pass.

We will get what we deserve.

And most Americans do not deserve that.