“Did you really think we want those laws observed? We want them to be broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against... We’re after power and we mean it... There’s no way to rule innocent men.
“The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
“Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt.
“Now that’s the system, Mr. Reardon, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”
—-Dr. Floyd Ferris (ATLAS SHRUGGED, Ayn Rand, 1957)
The more laws and regulations that get added the more watered down the enforcement of the existing laws and regulation becomes.
Why any politician cannot conceive this simple concept is why we are in the mess we are in.
It's not by happenstance. It's very deliberate.
Texas lizards, Amish milk farmers, legal illegal immigrants, riding a bike on sunday before noon, two high school kids playing backseat happy pants become registered sexual predators, driving without shoes on your feet, blinking your headlights, are just a few..........
Millions of people make a living off of low level criminals. Those are the best kind. They pay their fines, won't piss in your squad car, don't throw feces at the jailer, cower in front of a judge, and will deplete every asset they have to stay out or get out of jail.
Overcriminalization is downright profitable. Real criminals are an expense, hard on staff morale, kick the windows out of the squad car, throw poo, and want to kill the judge and his dog. They don't pay their fines, and are a drain on the system.
At this point, the only real solution to this is to start taking your responsibilities when you sit on juries more seriously. I'd have a very hard time convicting anyone of just about any crime that did not have a readily identifiable victim. If more people understood their responsibilities as jurists, the country would be in a lot better shape.
It would not surprise me to see misdemeanors go away as the worthless politicians try even harder to bring us under their thumb.
Dick Thornburgh ping
Good post !