"The More Corrupt the State, the More Numerous the Laws."

Is There a Better Question Than el gato malo's?

“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” - Tacitus, Roman historian, public official, and orator . 56 - 120 A.D.

One of my favorite ‘Stackers, and probably one of yours, is el gato malo. He writes over at “bad cattitude.” In a recent post, he asked his readers to answer this question:

“If you could make one law…

Three Felonies a Day

Well, geez Louise! That’s part of our problem, yes? Laws. Mostly freaky kinds of people making laws — about everything, poking themselves into every aspect of our lives. The point of the bad cat’s exercise is making a law that would apply to the lawmakers, but really. Make more?

Harvard-trained, civil rights attorney Harvey Silverglate documented this sad state years ago in his book, Three Felonies a Day.

From the Amazon page, we learn that Mr. Silverglate is counsel to Boston’s Zalkind, Rodriguez, Lunt & Duncan LLP, specializing in criminal defense, civil liberties, and academic freedom/student rights law. He is co-founder and Chairman of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education).

From the Amazon description of the book, we learn:

“The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.”

This video featuring Mr. Silverglate from nine years ago provides a short, but informative glimpse into the life of the man who describes himself as a “civil libertarian.” As a Harvard Law School graduate, he has some very unflattering things to say about the University, but ends with this prediction:

“…ultimately, I am optimistic, and the reason I’m optimistic is because there is no way that the current university as it is, the politically-correct university, can survive. There is too much, there is too much of an internal conflict, and I think that the eternal devotion of universities to academic freedom, free thought, and fairness is going to ultimately trump and the modern PC university is going to bite the dust.”

Certainly, an idealistic view of academia, but…from your lips to God’s ears, Harvey.

Wonder what he thinks today about the assault on free speech over the last three years, especially from places like “big academia” and its assault on the civil liberties of its students. But I digress.

A Different Question

I propose a different question from that of el gato malo. For purposes of this exercise, we’ll limit ourselves to the swamp, a.k.a. the federal government, a.k.a. headquarters of the world’s largest and deadliest organized crime syndicate:

If you had the power to eliminate one federal government position, what would it be? Or the power to eliminate any of the Constitutional amendments, (except for, of course, the amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights), which one would it be? Is there one law that you’d eliminate instantly if you could?

Here are two that come to mind, though I’d have a hard time choosing between:

1. Doing this, in effect, to the 17th Amendment: S̶e̶v̶e̶n̶t̶e̶e̶n̶t̶h̶ ̶A̶m̶e̶n̶d̶m̶e̶n̶t̶

   ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶e̶n̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶U̶n̶i̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶t̶e̶s̶ ̶s̶h̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶o̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶ ̶S̶e̶n̶a̶t̶o̶r̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶e̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶t̶e̶,̶ ̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶o̶f̶,̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶i̶x̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶;̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶e̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶S̶e̶n̶a̶t̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶h̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶v̶o̶t̶e̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶o̶r̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶e̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶q̶u̶a̶l̶i̶f̶i̶c̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶q̶u̶i̶s̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶o̶r̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶n̶u̶m̶e̶r̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶b̶r̶a̶n̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶g̶i̶s̶l̶a̶t̶u̶r̶e̶s̶.̶

   ̶

   ̶W̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶v̶a̶c̶a̶n̶c̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶p̶p̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶r̶e̶s̶e̶n̶t̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶e̶n̶a̶t̶e̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶x̶e̶c̶u̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶i̶s̶s̶u̶e̶ ̶w̶r̶i̶t̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶f̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶v̶a̶c̶a̶n̶c̶i̶e̶s̶:̶ ̶P̶r̶o̶v̶i̶d̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶T̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶g̶i̶s̶l̶a̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶ ̶e̶m̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶x̶e̶c̶u̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶e̶m̶p̶o̶r̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶u̶n̶t̶i̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶a̶c̶a̶n̶c̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶g̶i̶s̶l̶a̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶ ̶d̶i̶r̶e̶c̶t̶.̶

   ̶

   ̶T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶m̶e̶n̶d̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶t̶r̶u̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶f̶f̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶e̶r̶m̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶S̶e̶n̶a̶t̶o̶r̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶s̶e̶n̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶o̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶v̶a̶l̶i̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶C̶o̶n̶s̶t̶i̶t̶u̶t̶i̶o̶n̶.̶

In other words, rid the country of this Constitutionally-passed amendment that undermined one of the pillars of this constitutional republic — the change from senators appointed by the States’ House of Representatives to the election of Senators by popular vote. Just one woman’s opinion, but I think the appointment of senators by the State Legislatures puts more pressure on the Legislatures, brings accountability for their selection to the Legislatures, enables Legislatures to recall Senators, and brings that process closer to “the people.”

2. A close second — a really close second — to No. 1 above would be the following: Waving my wand, I would eliminate all of the unconstitutional Cabinet departments. Buh-bye “Energy” department. Adios Health & Human Services. Ciao Department of Labor. Sayonara Department of Agriculture. And, of course, the big one — the Department of Edumacation. See ya! Buh-bye!

   All of them. Gone. That would get us from 15 (15!!!???) back to the original four: State, Treasury, War (a.k.a. “Defense”), and “Justice.” Even these are a complete joke at this point, but reducing the “black holes” from 15 to 4?? Reducing the freedom killers from 15 to 4? Just think of the money and paper we’d save…and the freedom we’d restore.

So. Which one for you? Contrary to the bad cat, we’re not passing more laws here. We’re heeding Tacitus, and so in that spirit, we’re getting rid of laws.

Any one you want. Which one would it be?