Join the new world

if you have ever watched any kind of a trial (even on television!), you know that after both sides have presented their witnesses, the lawyers have a last chance to sway the jury (or the judge). That is in their closing arguments. Over the years there have been some spectacular closing arguments. There are even several books which have gathered famous closing arguments.

Some lawyers use the same closing argument for almost every case. Gerry Spence's famous final plea on behalf of Polly to the jury goes something like this:

Before I leave you I want to share with you a story I tell in nearly every case. It's about transferring the responsibility of the case from us, on behalf of little Polly and her parents, to you, the jury.

It's a story of a wise old man and a smart-aleck boy who wanted to show up the wise old man as a fool.

One day this boy caught a small bird in the forest. The boy had a plan. He brought the bird, cupped between his hands, to the old man. His plan was to say, "Old man, what do I have in my hands?" to which the old man would answer, "You have a bird, my son." Then the boy would say, "Old man, is the bird alive or is it dead?" If the old man said the bird was dead, the boy would open his hands and the bird would fly freely back to the forest. But if the old man said the bird was alive, then the boy would crush the little bird, and crush it, and crush it until it was dead.

So the smart-aleck boy sauntered up to the old man and said, "Old man, what do I have in my hands?" And the old man said, "You have a bird, my son." Then the boy said with a malevolent grin, "Old man, is the bird alive or is it dead?"

And the old man, with sad eyes, said, "The bird is in your hands, my son."

And so, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, "the case of little Polly is in yours."

So it goes to you citizens; the decision is in your hands. You will decide who will represent you in Congress for the next term on voting day, the 25th. Please take a look at the candidates. Make sure you know what they stand for. Read their presentations. If someone hasn't bothered to make a presentation, will they bother to show up to vote? If they have been in Congress before, look at their voting records. Look at their newspapers. Look at their forum posts. We say a lot in public around here. You can get a feel for what kind of representative someone will make if you take the time to look around even a little bit! So please look around before you vote on the 25th. Know who you are voting for. It is in your hands.

Now for the contest: It is a quote from another closing argument. The first person to tell me the case and the person making the argument will win $10.00. Here's the quote from a closing argument: "And when you hear somebody say, 'This is not about sex,' it's about sex."