The fact that four people have been indicted in Lexington County, makes ears perk up, when we are told by insiders, more is to come. It took a long time, but they came.
The reason we pay attention when a sitting county councilman, a mayor, or a state senator says there is more coming, is because the likelihood these people KNOW.
Talk to people in Lexington. They will assure you more indictments are coming.
Talk to people in Lexington. They will assure you more indictments are coming.
Elected officials get out and talk to people. When they are at the skating rink, the baseball game or the ice cream shop, people come up to them, and tell them what they know.
Sometimes the elected are questioned themselves, in connection with a case law enforcement will be sending to a grand jury.
In the Lexington indictments, charges were rumored for a year. In South Congaree, a year-or-so ago, town offices were closed by investigators, and evidence was stripped from the building. And South Congaree's former police chief was indicted earlier this week.
There was a shake-up in town government after that.
If an FBI agent has contacted a receptionist and asked questions, that news gets out.
If a store manager has been asked to provide would-be evidence, they tell it to people they interact with in the community about who ask them what.
So when high-ranking officials say more is coming, chances are they know what they are talking about.
But even when we believe more is coming, there are questions.
When will the next round come?
Who will it be? The anticipation is irresistible.
For some the anticipation is sport. Not always because we savor the turmoil of others. Reputations are broken, familes are harmed. The innocent will have to pay in some cases.
But many honest, everyday Lexington County residents craves fairness in our lives.
And so many times, we see the powerful do as they please, enrich themselves to things we cannot have, and get away wit it, while we just have to, shut up, suck it up and take it. Lots of times, the privileged use taxpayer money, as if it were their own.
So when there is justice, there is also relief and a sense of joy. We are glad that people we know are crooked, FINALLY got caught.
The fact that this isn't happening on the federal level, the very idea that government law breaking goes unpunished, is what is shaking us to our core in this country. The schadenfreude we feel towards the guilty is natural and fulfills our sense of justice, which is an article of faith, really. Especially when those criminals have control over our lives, and are the very ones tasked with keeping law and order. We HAVE to believe that justice will prevail, that order is consistently positively enforced, which is why we live in relative peace in this country, or at least we did. When we see things like the collapse of the border and a chaotic refugee humanitarian crisis, the total breakdown of order and it is the government facilitating the mayhem, it is frightening and erodes our society. My hope is that locally at least, we can maintain control, because the rest of the union appears to be on the brink.
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