Posted by
INTHENOW on Monday, September 21, 2009 1:10:11 PM
A friend recently sent me a link to a site called “The Best of Sicily”, which contains a wide range of information for travelers considering Sicily as a tourist destination. As a quasi-resident of bella Sicilia for some years now, I highly recommend the site. However, my reason for posting today has nothing to do with the great food, history, beautiful scenery, or the famous Southern Italian hospitality. While perusing the webpage, I found this frank and honest description of the Italian legal system from an American POV. It is anything but the best of Sicily. While reading the article, parallels between the established Italian norm and the current US political trends became obvious. That is, obvious to anyone willing to see them.
The article, "Italian Law and You - Welcome to the Jungle!" , by Amanda Sorensen is the most accurate synopsis of Italian "law" I have ever read. I would add that all of these statutes are selectively enforced to such a subjective degree, it is impossible to seriously consider them laws at all. Italy's collective mindset, which is a reflection of its culture and legal system, can be summed up in one phrase; it's who you know. How this structure based on nepotism, fraud, and coercion does not implode is a great mystery to me. It’s a testament to the awesome power of corruption and the people’s tolerance for the oppression it cultivates. Once practiced by the majority, corruption becomes the mainstay and governing force in society and will breed some form of tyranny.
From the article:
Certain governing principles, though very real, don't influence everyday life very much. In the United States, a nation established by free-thinking men of the Enlightenment, individual rights are believed to derive from God (or from human nature itself), while in socialist Italy they are "given" to citizens by the state, much as they were granted to subjects by the grace of past popes and kings.
The lesson is clear. As America continues her slide further and further away from the founding premise of the Constitution, the closer we get to what Ms. Sorensen so aptly calls the “jungle”.