No More Excuses for Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan seems to enjoy the attention from making a spectacle of herself and snubbing her nose at the same legal system that we all are supposed to abide by. Lohan will finally have to do time behind bars beginning at the end of July.

Lohan has been dodging jail time for two years, starting in 2007 when she was busted for driving under the influence twice within a very short period of time. A person without fame or a good deal of funding would have found themselves in jail shortly after being busted with illegal drugs in their vehicle or a second DUI in such a short time. If an average person blew off court ordered sessions for alcohol or drug abuse, they would not be able to come up with a "get out of jail" card without any effort at all. If an average person violated terms of probation constantly, they would not have an option after the first time...maybe twice if they were very lucky...but jail would not have eluded the average person for two years as it has for Lohan.

Many people seem to think that she should not have to do jail time, while many other people think she should. My question for those who want her to avoid jail time is;

Why should America's legal system and laws not be applied to us all equally?

What makes a rich and/or famous person better than a person who is not rich and/or famous? Lindsay Lohan is not above the law nor is she better than any other American, yet she has been allowed to get away with behavior that most Americans would not even think about attempting.

The "poor little Lindsay" pity party is an excuse for anyone who does not lead a realistic or responsible life. Lohan CHOSE to do things that she knew was illegal and unacceptable. She is 24 years old and understands what she does, not to mention, she seems to believe that laws do not apply to her. No gun was held to her head to force her into breaking the law.

I once overheard a conversation between a woman in her forties (Eva) and her best friend (Nadine) that made me angry and erased most sympathy I could ever have for an alcoholic. Nadine and Eva were both alcoholics and had been drinking buddies for almost twenty years but on this day both women were sober. Nadine had come to visit and was scolding Eva about the way she would physically abuse her young daughter. Nadine had witnessed the abuse first hand but was complicit since she never did anything about it, never interfered and never reported it. She warned Eva that someday would see the police arresting her and her abuse would land her in jail. Eva started to laugh and told Nadine that she was not concerned about it, "I can always blame it on the booze and swear that I didn't understand what I was doing". Eva admitted, while sober, that she knew what she was doing and that she believed that she could get out of it by blaming it on "the booze". Eva chose to be abusive and knew she could get away with it because someone would feel sorry for her...and she was right.

Alcoholism is not a disease, it is an excuse. I am not a doctor nor do I have an extensive education on alcoholism but have spent more time than I care to mention having to deal with alcoholics. There are many books concerning alcoholism and you can study it for years without ever having practical experience of dealing with it. Those who have never spent time around people with drinking problems are not experts, they have a large amount of missing information as long as they have not had any personal experience. There is not a doctor of any kind on this planet who can cure someone of alcoholism and there is absolutely no way to make a person stop drinking. An alcoholic will only stop drinking when they make the decision to stop. It is a choice, not a disease.

People who feel sorry for a celebrity to the point that they believe responsibility for bad behavior is not required are the same people who have caused the values and morality of this country to degrade over the past few decades. It is perfectly acceptable for some people to break the law but it is not acceptable for the rest of us. That is not only discrimination but also unconstitutional.

If the law was fair, all of us, rich or poor, would have to deal with appropriate consequences of our actions. Lindsay Lohan should have to do the full 90 days in jail and then have to follow any other requirement to the letter. It is quite possible that being forced to obey the law under penalty of real consequence will force Lohan to stop the unacceptable behavior. The fear of going back to jail may very well influence her decisions to drive while under the influence again, blow off her legal responsibilities and disrespect the court system. Perhaps she will make better choices next time.

Lohan needs to spend 90 full days in jail, even if she does receive better accomodations than most prisoners do. The fancy fingernail painting that she sported in the courtroom when sentenced to jail (fingernail of both middle fingers sported the words "f**k u") give the impression that Lohan sees everyone else as being beneath her and she does not have to follow rules like the rest of us..

The point is that we have laws for a reason and Lohan has no right to thumb her nose at the same laws that the rest of us are expected to abide by.?