How Do I Jail Thee?
Let me count the ways. And keep counting, and keep counting. Or, in this case, let John Stossel, who agrees with me that we've become a nation with too many laws, too many ways to jail us for breaking them. An excerpt:
Something's happened to America, and it isn't good. It's become easier to get into trouble. We've become a nation of a million rules. Not the kind of bottom-up rules that people generate through voluntary associations. Those are fine. I mean imposed, top-down rules formed in the brains of meddling bureaucrats who think they know better than we how to manage our lives.Cross them, and we are in trouble.
The National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) received an anonymous fax that a seafood shipment to Alabama from David McNab contained "undersized lobster tails" and was improperly packed in clear plastic bags, rather than the cardboard boxes allegedly required under Honduran law. When the $4 million shipment arrived, NMFS agents seized it. McNab served eight years in prison, even though the Honduran government informed the court that the regulation requiring cardboard boxes had been repealed.
How about this one? Four kindergartners -- yes, 5-year-old boys -- played cops and robbers at Wilson Elementary in New Jersey. One yelled: "Boom! I have a bazooka, and I want to shoot you." He did not, of course, have a bazooka. Nevertheless, all four boys were suspended from school for three days for "making threats," a violation of their school district's zero-tolerance policy. School Principal Georgia Baumann said, "We cannot take any of these statements in a light manner." District Superintendent William Bauer said: "This is a no-tolerance policy. We're very firm on weapons and threats."
The real scary bit is that the US is the most powerful nation in the world, still. And fighting for freedom and liberty all over the world. I'd rather have another form of liberty than that. How can a country with so many idiots be so great. There must staggering numbers of really cool americans, but why can't they stop the bigots and idiots?
Jesper at July 28, 2010 2:08 AM
Well, the lobster tail story is another example of Stossel not bothering to do his homework. The last time he did something this dumb, he unfavorably compared Cleveland to Houston, which is a little like comparing the smell of your armpit to that of your anus.
A quick Google search would have revealed that far from a plastic bag problem, the McNab was part of a smuggling ring responsible for $17 million worth of lobster entering the country illegally.
Smuggling -- a way of moving goods that avoids pesky things like taxes and sanitation -- makes it difficult or impossible for legitimate businesses -- who employ American citizens -- to survive. It's a big part of "defending our borders."
Furthermore, many of the lobsters were undersized or pregnant, which means that they were captured under conditions that will destroy their life cycle, making sustained harvesting impossible.
No question that some laws are stupid. The laws against smuggling food products aren't among them.
Choronzonon at July 28, 2010 3:52 AM
I was at the auto parts store yesterday and asked the young guy if they had any key chains. He laughed and said well not sure you would like any of the ones we have unless you like Hello Kitty and some other child/female key chains. I laughed. We started talking and he said he had bought his 5 year old sister a Hello Kitty key chain where The hello Kitty had a gun. He said she got sent home from school for having it.
David M. at July 28, 2010 3:59 AM
There must [be] staggering numbers of really cool americans, but why can't they stop the bigots and idiots?
Unfortunately, there are also a staggering (and constantly increasing) number of Americans who don't want the freedom to live their lives free from nitpicky, all-intrusive rules and regulations. To them, freedom is too messy and involves too many responsibilities. It's easier to be taken care of by "meddling bureaucrats", like so many children.
These people are the constituency of big government. And, a little more each year, they've been getting their way for a century now. The policies and rules they crave harm all of us.
cpabroker at July 28, 2010 4:29 AM
The problem is indifference. Nobody cares about this stuff until it happens to them.
My husband and I think it's telling that we're more afraid of what our government can do to us than we are of what criminals can do to us.
MonicaP at July 28, 2010 6:48 AM
The government is simply too oppressive, no question about it. Why, one state even passed a law that required anybody who looks Hispanic to carry identity papers or risk being arrested. What is this country coming to???
Choronzonon at July 28, 2010 9:37 AM
"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." - Floyd Ferris (a government official), in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
Rex Little at July 28, 2010 10:07 AM
To Choronzonon,
Do you have a link to your information about the lobster story?
- -
Too Many Federal Laws
We all have to be afraid of a Federal bureaucracy that wants to control all aspects of our lives. Right now, you can't go through the day without breaking a few Federal laws. You know, the ones that are all punishable by "5 years and/or $5,000".
“Zero tolerance” policies land children in jail for making paper guns in school, or having small knives on campus in the trunk of their cars after moving and opening boxes. A cancer patient aged 61 was jailed because her hedges were too high. This is law enforcement run amuck."
Andrew_M_Garland at July 28, 2010 10:41 AM
Sure. Here's a Department of Commerce press release:
http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2004/mar04/noaa04-r119.html
Choronzonon at July 28, 2010 1:01 PM
Choronzonon, thanks for the link:
-> www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2004/mar04/noaa04-r119.html
NOAA Press Release 03/22/04
Mcnab To Continue Serving Federal Prison Sentence For Lobster Smuggling
-> www.crimeandfederalism.com/2004/07/debate_over_the.html
Crime and Federalism gives another part of the story on 07/29/04
So, the opaque plastic bags were cited as a Federal violation of law, although a misdemeanor. This elevated his illegal lobster importation to the level of "smuggling" rather than a fishing violation. McNab was breaking the law, but was the proper punishment 10 years in Federal prison?
To me, this makes the claim of "10 years for plastic bags" incorrect. Yet, there is still a troubling overreach to the goverment's prosecution.
Andrew_M_Garland at July 28, 2010 2:52 PM
I could see www.crimeandfederalism.com posting the following:
"Al Capone is in prison for 11 years. He misfiled a few tax returns. Some of his deductibles were questionable.
Most tax evaders are allowed the opportunity to pay what they owe, plus interest and fines. Didn't matter. DOJ attorneys fought successfully to have him sent to prison, where he will be for the next 11 years."
Now...it COULD be that McNab was an honest businessmen that was unjustly railroaded by the feds for violating some minor import-export regulations.
OR it could be that McNab was a long standing smuggler and criminal who was finally put away using whatever charges they could make stick. Just like capone.
Peter at July 28, 2010 5:34 PM
Why, one state even passed a law that required anybody who looks Hispanic to carry identity papers or risk being arrested. What is this country coming to???
Not correct. One state has made a law that you have to have proof of your identity. And that you are legally in the United States. If you are Swedish in Arizona and don't have a valid driver's license, the law enforcement officer is then to check your status. And under federal -- not state you should be carrying your green card (or its equivalent for your status) when you are legally here in the United States.
Oh and note that Proposition 187 in California was substantially similar. You may also want read about Rhode Island and several other states. :-D
Jim P. at July 28, 2010 6:45 PM
Choronzonon, you are the one who needs to do their homework.
McNab was charged for supposed violations of the Lacey Act, which makes it a crime to import “fish or wildlife taken … in violation of any foreign law.”
In this case the the foreign laws were 3 Honduran fishing regulations that were either outdated or null and void in Honduras before his arrest, but are somehow still being enforced by American federal courts.
http://www.overcriminalized.com/CaseStudy/McNab-Imprison-by-Foreign-Laws.aspx
Kant feel Pietzsche at August 28, 2011 6:24 AM
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