Liberal outrage over director Roman Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland this week on 1977 charges of raping a 13-year old girl in the U.S. has once again exposed the lie that liberals are for “the little guy.”

These defenders of “the little guy” are the same ones who:

• Tried to destroy a working Joe for daring to question then-candidate Barack Obama
   
• Promote the killing of millions of voiceless and helpless unborn children as a human right
   
• Regularly insult the millions of ordinary Americans who have taken to the streets this year to protest out-of-control government spending and intrusion into our lives.

They are now lining up to defend a child rapist because – well, because he suffered horribly in his life and he’s contributed more to society than his victim.

Europeans, especially the French, are beside themselves over this issue. French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand huffed, "To see him thrown to the lions and put in prison because of ancient history — and as he was traveling to an event honoring him — is absolutely horrifying…There's an America we love and an America that scares us, and it's that latter America that has just shown us its face."

Forgive us, Monsieur Mitterand, if our laws place the well-being of children, and their protection against sexual assault by adults, ahead of receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.

Hollywood, of course, is competing with the French for who can shout the loudest in defense of the indefensible. Actress Debra Winger takes the cake when she dismisses the child rape charges as “a three-decade-old case that is all but dead but for minor technicalities.” You mean the “minor technicalities” that involve drugging and performing forced oral, vaginal and anal sex on a 13-year old girl who repeatedly said “no” but was ignored? Or is it the “minor technicalities” that involve him pleading guilty to the charge of unlawful sex with a minor?

What makes this screaming and gnashing of teeth all the more reprehensible is that many of the people crying out for his release are women, obviously the same women who looked the other way while Bill Clinton abused the power of his office as governor and President to bed multiple women and pressure others for sex. Would Polanski’s troubled past or creative genius mattered to them if they were the 13-year old girl being raped? Would those things have mattered if the 13-year old girl was their daughter?

Some point out that his victim, now in her 40s, has forgiven her assailant and doesn’t want to see him punished, which speaks more to her virtue than his. Regrettably, she was tormented by the tabloids back when the charges were filed, portrayed as a teenage temptress who seduced a lonely man still mourning the loss of his wife and unborn child, who were brutally murdered by the Charles Manson “family” in 1970.

Hollywood and the international arts community made her into a Lolita and rallied around Polanski, who was already a tragic figure before his wife’s murder because he was a childhood survivor of the Holocaust. A woman director even made a documentary that portrayed him as the victim of a corrupt judicial system; Bill Wyman of Slate Magazine had the good sense to call it “bad art” and focused on the substance of the case, not the emotions it has generated.

If you read the victim’s words or listen to her today, it’s apparent she simply wants the issue to go away. She’s even angry at the justice system for continuing to pursue it, not because of the crime itself but because it brings back for her all the trauma of the experience. It’s a sad yet typical reaction from a victim of child sexual assault.

Here’s the bottom line. Roman Polanski pled guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in order to avoid more serious charges. Had the case gone to trial, the graphic details of what he did to this 13-year old girl might have netted him a lengthy prison sentence. He ran – left the country – before sentencing, which makes him a fugitive.

The law isn’t concerned with the circumstances of your past, nor does it care about your accomplishments or contributions to society. Blind justice seeks only to answer one question; did you or did you not commit the crime with which you are charged?

The law is about equal justice, not empathy. Equal justice protects everyone, from the least to the greatest, and is a cornerstone of our nation’s respect for the dignity and worth of every human being. That way, “the little guy” doesn’t get steamrolled and cheated out of justice because the other person has more money, influence, or is deemed more productive by society.

Forgiveness does not preclude accountability. Polanski escaped accountability when he fled the country, and despite his victim’s forgiveness, has not yet had his day in court. The rule of law must prevail if we are to protect and serve the people – all the people. No one is above the law.

To excuse this crime on the pretext that he is more valuable to society than others who’ve committed a similar crime mocks everything we stand for as a nation. Then again, considering the source, I shouldn’t be surprised.

To all the “little guys” out there, your liberal advocates are there for you – unless you’re victimized by a wealthy, powerful or influential person, or you question their wisdom on policy, or you put unborn life ahead of personal convenience or…well, you get the idea.

Ron Miller is a candidate for the state Senate in Maryland. Visit his campaign website: www.teamronmiller.com