The United States literally began with these words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
What that actually means, particularly the pursuit of
Happiness part, is different for different people. At a minimum however, we can
all agree that Life means, well… life.
The above, of course, comes from the Declaration of
Independence. But that document
doesn’t define the structure of our government, the Constitution
does. And from the Constitution we get
our federal system, where (originally) the federal government had a number of well-defined
and finite powers such as defense, foreign relations and adjudicating conflicts
between the various states. States on
the other hand reserved all those powers not specifically prohibited to them or
delegated to the federal government.
And the truth is, that system worked very well for a long
time. About 150 years. But, starting in the 1910s, with the passage
of the 16th
and 17th amendments, the line between the two started to blur,
in the 1930s it began to be fray and by the 1990s it was basically gone, which
is the situation we find ourselves with today.
This evisceration of our federal system of checks and
balances for all intents and purposes no longer exists. From to welfare to education to employment to
consumer products to media to farming to housing, the federal government is involved
in virtually every other aspect of American lives.
But you know one place where federal control largely doesn’t
extend? The criminal justice
system. That doesn’t mean there is there
no federal involvement, because in reality, there
is, but states exert more control over the criminal justice system than
they do over other aspects of life like healthcare, automobiles, banking,
etc.
As it relates to America’s founding document, that’s a
problem. Not that I believe the federal
government should take over everything.
Just the opposite, actually. Indeed, as I read the Constitution, 70% of what
Washington does is blatantly unconstitutional. I’m confident America would be a far more
prosperous place if the federal government stopped doing most of what it does.
But, sadly, that’s not happening, and as the old adage goes:
“When in Rome…”
Chris Bray over
at the Federalist had a piece the other day discussing federalism, and how
because, blue states are so dysfunctional, the federal government is having to
step in to protect dogs. Most certainly the Founding Fathers didn’t have
protecting Fido in mind when they wrote the Constitution. But you know what they did have in mind, and
explicitly so? The lives of
Americans.
Nonetheless, we are seeing across the country, from Virginia
to Maine to California, state and or local governments failing to protect that most
basic thing upon which America was founded: Life. The reports and stories we seen regularly are
heartbreaking. We see a
criminal with 40 arrests murder a young woman during a home invasion. We see an illegal
alien with 30 prior arrests fatally slash the neck of a random woman standing
at a bus stop. We see a thug with 17 priors beat a 64 year old man to death
in a subway because
he didn’t like the way the victim looked at him.
Stephen Miller pointed out recently
that western civilization only started flourishing after centuries of culling
the most violent among them via capital punishment. I’ve often said that it’s
impossible to go into a dark movie theater and fully enjoy the show if the
entire time you’re worried that the guy behind you might shoot you in the back
of the head. Similarly, it’s difficult
to build a functioning, flourishing society, one that advances science, technology
and builds prosperity if the citizens of said society worry about being killed waiting
for the subway or driving home from work or standing in line at some fast food
restaurant. All of the creativity that a people might put into inventing new
widgets or doing cancer research or teaching children how to read instead gets
focused on how to avoid becoming a victim of crime.
These policies are the bleeding edge (literally) of George
Soros’ and the swamp’s attempts to destroy the Republic and turn America
into the leftist paradise they all dream of controlling. And just as the as Communism in the 20th
century did nothing but deliver bloodshed, economic ruin and tyranny everywhere
it showed its ugly head, we see the same thing in blue states and cities across
America.
Given the failure of blue state / city judges, prosecutors
and District Attorneys to protect the lives of their citizens, Washington
should step in to do the job. They won’t
be able to protect everyone, but they will be able to tackle the problem in a
way that the states and cities refuse to do.
What kinds of things can be done?
First: Make murder a federal crime with capital punishment the sentence and a
streamlined appeal process so that the process doesn’t drag on for years or
decades.
Second: The federal government should begin to indict and
imprison said judges, prosecutors and DAs every single time one of the career
criminals they put back on the street kills someone.
But, you might say, they have immunity. Maybe from state
charges, but not from federal civil rights violations. Think back to 1992 when the local jury acquitted
the police officers of assault and use of excessive force in the beating of
Rodney King. What happened then? The feds came in and charged them with violations
of King's civil rights and won convictions. Frankly, that was a BS charge then,
but the precedent was set. If using a baton on someone who put the lives of
countless motorists at risk is a violation of civil rights then actually
empowering the murder of someone is at least as much so. As such, given the
role that the various government officials play in putting on the street career
criminals who then go on to commit murder, the Justice Department should hold
them accountable.
What would the result of such a policy be? One would be that
it would force government officials to weigh the potential consequences of releasing
criminals into communities against the potential outcome to the community, and
as a consequence, to themselves personally if that criminal murders
someone. Another would be that the
amount of crime would drop precipitously as career criminals find themselves
held behind bars far more often than they’ve become accustomed to.
None of this is ideal and this is not an ideal solution, but
as Voltaire said: “Perfect is the enemy of the good”, and when
government officials not only don’t protect citizens, but actively put them in
harm’s way, they should pay for those decisions. Government without
accountability is just another way of saying tyranny, something the Declaration
of Independence was specifically written to oppose.
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