A Nation in Handcuffs
I was told yesterday that we would all be waking up to a new America today. This was, as you can imagine, due to yesterday’s indictment announcement about Donald Trump, the ex and 45th president. The word handcuff is getting used an inordinate amount today, mostly in the conjecture of whether Trump is likely to be forced to suffer a perp walk in handcuffs in addition to the obligatory fingerprinting and mugshot taking. The latter two acts seem like reasonable and necessary steps in the criminal booking process. After all, we still do not have a national fingerprint database other than of those people who have been required to get fingerprinted. The largest body of those who’s fingerprints are on file are the military, but those are maintained by the Department of Defense separate from the central law enforcement database, where fingerprints are used mostly to solve crimes. All bankers need to be fingerprinted, so I know I am on file. That seems even more important as we watch banks collapsing around us. Also, anyone applying for a license, permit or certificate, like a home improvement professional, must get fingerprinted since they are deemed to be more likely to come under suspicion. But still, the biggest source of the FBI fingerprint files are people who are arrested. I always thought that it would be sensible that everyone has to come in to law enforcement annually for fingerprinting and DNA samples, but I know how unpopular that notion is. That is the ultimate difference between my emphasis on the common good and other people’s strongly-held views that personal liberty is sacrosanct and that would be an invasion of privacy that is intolerable. But I do feel that if someone does something bad enough to get indicted, it is reasonable and necessary that they submit to fingerprinting. And everyone, including and especially an ex-president should not be above that law. The same applies to photographing since it is also a prophylactic for law enforcement and is a necessary data gathering step for our collective security.
But handcuffing an indicted felon goes beyond that sense and need for security. There are some instances when a detainee is recalcitrant and needs to be restrained, but that is most often not the case. It is certainly not the case that any indictment where the person charged would be released without bail (which is most often the case) needs to be handcuffed just for show. People will argue that the shaming process for an indicted potential felon is appropriate penalty for finding oneself in that awkward place, but that belies the fundamental notion of American justice that innocence is a presumption until proven guilty. But law enforcement and criminal prosecution is a bit of a cult of power and control and both the law enforcement professionals and the baser portion of the population that has that Celtic gene that induces feelings of revenge or simply wants the drama of lording over others in unfortunate circumstances, want handcuffs.
When I Googled handcuffs to see what Wikipedia had to say about the restraints, I got an eye full. It took me several pages before I could get to a proper definition and even then I couldn’t find the Wiki connection. In the way was a raft of pictures of every type of handcuffs (both metal and plastic), both currently for sale and historical in nature. One might quickly assume that the American public has a bit of a fixation about handcuffs. Indeed, every third comment or depiction of handcuffs seems to involve a sexual Sadomasochistic theme accompanied with lingerie-clad models that look dressed by Fredrick’s of Hollywood, complete with the ever-popular crotchless panties. And then, sprinkled in amongst all of these handcuff references are articles about Donald Trump and the very contemplation that I am discussing here about what will happen when he enters the Manhattan courthouse for his arraignment. Wow, Google is a great tell as to what is on everyone’s mind. And it is hard to not take notice that handcuffs, sexual prurient interests and Donald Trump are all coming together in the service of portraying the very nature of the accusations of porn star hush money payments made in advance of an important national election. That is all some combination of pretty amazing and pretty funny in an ironic way.
The word handcuff is also applied figuratively to mean constrained and it would be hard not to see our country as currently shackled by all kinds of constraints that restrict us in both good and bad ways. As soon as the second person walked the earth, the first person had a good chance of feeling threatened and in need of some combination of security and restraint of the actual or potential perpetrator who might well and perhaps did covet what he had. Genesis tells us that Adam trusted Eve, at least until they ate that all-knowing apple that got served up to them by the serpent that represented all that is evil in the world. I am dubious about that interpretation since the leveling of the gender playing field demands that women be considered to have just as much ability to threaten Adam as any other man might. Adam and Even had three sons, Cain, Abel and Seth. We all know that Cain and Abel had security issues between them and we can assume that Seth had similar issues since he hit the road. Eventually, Seth’s descendant Noah deemed the world so insecure that it deserved to be eradicated and only the animals and birds were worthy of salvation. And then comes Abraham, the patriarch of all three major religions of mankind. He is asked by God to sacrifice his oldest son Isaac and what does the loyal servant of God do? He handcuffs Isaac to the altar and is about to sacrifice him to his Lord until the Angel of God comes down and says, “Just kidding, kill this ram instead.” So, I suppose I am not off base to say that in the same way Christianity is predicated on the notion that Jesus suffered crucifixion for the souls of man, Abraham handcuffed Isaac for the security and observance of man. Handcuffs are a big part of our collective heritage. Does that make Donald Trump worthy of being handcuffed next week or not? I have no idea, but I do know that our culture and society are handcuffed like never before.
Now that we have eight billion people in the world, I suppose we need a lot of handcuffs to feel secure, but the handcuffing of our daily lives goes well beyond security. It is now about thought and soul control I suppose. I feel handcuffed to MSNBC today. Others feel handcuffed to Fox News, where those viewers may not even know about the ex-president’s handcuffing dilemma. Fox is probably inclined to stay close to shore these days as their dirty linen is gaining dominion over their business (pun intended). So, while they are under gag orders (an oral equivalent of handcuffs), that leaves Newsmax to get out there and suggest that even if Alvin Bragg does not handcuff Donald Trump next week, he will be fitted with his own handcuffs for his “abuse of power” in indicting Trump, even though it was the grand jury who did the indicting. Maybe Jim Jordan will need to borrow 25 sets of velvet handcuffs from Trump (I’m sure they can be found in his bedside drawer) so that the entire grand jury, the judge and Alvin can be restrained properly. Yes, we are a nation in handcuffs with no relief in sight.