Posted on 04/04/2014 1:01:43 PM PDT by ThethoughtsofGreg
In March 2013, Anthony Brasfield released a dozen heart-shaped balloons in the air as a romantic gesture for his girlfriend. After a Florida Highway Patrol officer spotted the gesture, Brasfield was charged with polluting to harm humans, animals and plants—a third degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
While some criminal laws and sanctions are necessary to protect safety and ensure justice, America’s criminal code includes many activities that Americans and business owners have little way of knowing are crimes. As a result, law-abiding individuals and businesses spend innumerable hours and dollars fending off criminal prosecution for actions they never suspected were illegal. There are more than 4,450 federal crimes and 300,000 regulations with criminal sanctions, many of which are duplicative of state criminal statutes and only serve to add confusion.1 Policymakers at the federal and state levels must en- sure there is a legitimate and real need to incarcerate each offender. Further, federal policymakers should carefully consider whether the issue is better handled by the states.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanlegislator.org ...
Three felonies a day.
That is what you and I are probably committing, without ever having a clue, thanks to vague, sweeping and overlapping legislation.
When I was active duty Marine we were told we violated 35 articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice by waking up and getting out of the rack in the morning.
They write laws this way on purpose. That way, if someone “in power” decides you are a nuisance you can be arrested on some ridiculous thing or another.
Unfortunately, progressives think everything should be a federal crime.
Well, there are only so many crimes listed in the constitution for which the fedguv is responsible. They are few and far between.
Speak for yourself...I'm good for at least eight... ;-)
Slacker.
(-;
There should be very, very few federal crimes, but this expansion is a direct result of the abuse found in Wickard and the other cases expanding the Commerce Clause and General Welfare.
Spot on. Poorly written laws are destructive as is administrative law. Ad law needs to be ended as well.
It is becoming more obvious every day that DC must be torn down, either peacefully or some other alternative. It used to be well understood that there was _no_ Federal police power. Obvious, DC doesn’t care about that or just about limitations in USConstitution.
Who knows, I probably just committed a felony by making a statement concerning the feds butting into local/state jurisdictions (and probably because I'm white, Holder will sic his goons on me. IRS audit, here I come!).
We’re not supposed to have a national government and that’s what statists and many big businesses want. Big business is a major enemy to liberty in that they want numerous agencies to 1. keep out competitors and 2. allow them to capture the regulatory regime.
Our system is federalism. We have a federal government. Mexico, Italy and most other third world countries have national governments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_state
America and American government are absolutely unique in world history. We are the exception. The rule is socialism, tribalism and national central control.
American exceptionalism is real.
That was one of my mother’s favorite sayings. It meant “Dont make a mountain out if a molehill.”
So LEO resources are used to put people in jail who release balloons into the air. If it’s really a bad thing, then a fine is due, but not jail time.
By creating thousands of “crimes” that most people are “committing” without being aware, they in effect terrorize the public and make them servile sheep.
Meanwhile they don’t prosecute feral street criminals who attack innocent law-abiding individuals.
What's sad/funny is that when you point this out in the very-real practical example of the War on Drugs and take a stance against it, you are often labeled as a druggie or endorsing drug-use — what they fail to realize is that if constitutional-restrictions only apply when you want them to, then the Constitution is useless and this means that it's more important to support the restrictions of the Constitution when they hinder your ideals than when they do not. (You wish to advance your ideals, and you don't wish to advance non-ideals… therefore you will be inclined to let things slide
when the violations line up with your ideals.)
From the TN Constitution:
Article 1, Section 2.
That government being instituted for the common benefit, the doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
Here in Michigan we have two major electric companies in what they call a “competitive partnership” and they have a state mandated cap on outside competition set at 10% of the market share.
My state rep is pushing to raise the cap to 25% and you would think he’s personally trying to kill everyone who works for those two companies. Millions are being spent on ads to oppose this evil attempt at “deregulation”.
The unintended consequences stand as proof that what's easy is seldom what's best.
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