Some of us may still believe that there is equal justice under the law.  But the ones who are most likely to believe it are the lucky ones amongst us who’ve never had to really find out.  Well, here’s a story that may make you think a bit differently about what equal justice under the law actually means.

A few years ago, I decided to become an entrepreneur.  A word that conjures up all sorts of images and emotions-like innovation, no bosses, creativity, big money and more.  Well, suffice it to say, becoming a successful entrepreneur was a lot easier said than done-at least in my case.

My first big step was to go back to college and do years of research to get my doctoral degree.  Then I got a patent based on my research.  My next step was to convince some wealthy investors that I could make them some money.

From here, I put everything I owned into the business along with several million dollars from my investors.  The idea was to create a new generation of risk management software based on my research that would make the food we all eat safer.

In developing the food safety software I briefed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about what my little company was up to.  What I wanted to do is make sure that what I was developing helped the government do a better job of oversight of the food companies they regulate.  But this is where things quickly began to go south.

The FDA started by taking my doctoral research and using it to write the government’s own plan for protecting the nation’s food supply.  Ouch!  But the thievery didn’t stop there. The FDA then took the software that I was trying to sell to the food industry and had it duplicated by their contractors. Double ouch!  But the death knell for my little company came when the FDA gave away the software they duplicated for all of the food companies out there to use for free.  Triple ouch! The bottom completely dropped out of our sales and my dreams of being an entrepreneur were soundly dashed.

So what did I do?  There were two choices.  Move on or fight for justice.  I chose to fight back not just for myself but for everyone who still believes in the American dream of becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own business.

This is when, just like a hamster on a treadmill, I began the never ending journey to get nowhere fast. Good guess-I started with congress.  But everyone I went to on the Hill told me, “We don’t get involved in legal matters,” and told me to get a lawyer even though every one of them knew I couldn’t afford one.  But the government buck didn’t stop there.

Then I wrote letters to the Inspector Generals at the Department of Health and Human Services and Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Small Business Administration, the White House and on and on.  But no one would lift a finger to help and the buck still goes on and on.

This year, I decided to step off the treadmill and I started a new initiative to stop the government’s buck. The John Galt Program for Investigative Studies focuses on Americans who are being denied their Constitutional rights. Please visit our web site at https://jgpis.org  to read about other people with great dreams just like yours that are being dashed by the government.

The John Galt Program for Investigative Studies is part of the Institute for Complexity Management (ICM) a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization that works to address intractable societal issues. ICM relies completely on charitable contributions from people just like you. Please visit our web site at https://jgpis.org and make a generous contribution today.