Land of the "got away with it"

It seems that in America, right and wrong are often not defined by what you did, but what you did or didn't get away with.

Did you do some stupid things as a teenager? If you got caught and/or someone happened to get hurt, you were a bad kid - perhaps even found guilty of murder if you were the boys who threw a log off the edge of a cliff at the wrong time/place in a park. If you didn't and escaped unscathed - even if it was a close call - it's just something to laugh and reminisce about when you're older.

Did you do drugs? If you got away with it, you can become President of the US like Obama and Bush Jr. If you got caught, you're a dirty criminal and convicted felon headed for a life of crime. Just think, instead of rising to the highest level of American politics, Bush Jr. and Obama could have been getting their prison tatts and forming lifelong gang connections.

Have you been out driving after a few drinks? Local communities sponsor things like beer festivals and wine tastings. Parking for the event is typically provided. It's also expected that a large portion of the economic activity involved in sporting events - tailgating, stadium beers, nearby local bars, etc. - involves drinking. Literally it couldn't work economically without those people who fill the parking lots spending a lot of their hard-earned money on alcohol. But if you randomly get caught driving home, you are a bad person and potential alcoholic putting others at risk. If you don't get caught, it's just another average weekend where you - and a good half of other American adults - went out and had a good time.

Did you try to sneak into the country illegally? If you got caught, you're a foreign border-breacher who needs to be sent back. But if you got away with it and managed to stay under the radar for a few years, you can find politicians on your side to give you legal status - legal status those waiting to make it in via the proscribed official path still don't have.

Did you do something illegal politically? Well, again, it's all about what can be proven. And even, how any evidence against you was collected. Because if evidence of your machinations is leaked by a non-citizen, that's meddling by a foreign power - nevermind what you were doing. The point is, you would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those lousy kids... I mean Russians.

I actually even found out recently here in LA, if you make an illegal addition onto your home, if you can rent it out for a couple years without being found out first, the city will work with you to fix the legal status of your non-permitted modifications. But it's critical that you get away with it for those couple of years first. If you get caught too early, they might make you tear it down.