Enemy of the State

Arrested.

What was his crime?

Rape? Murder? Home invasion? Defrauding 10,000 people in a pyramid scheme?

Worse: As a romantic gesture, he released a dozen helium-filled mylar Valentine's Day balloons with his girlfriend.

No really.

This man is now a criminal charged with releasing Valentine's Day balloons in an effort to please his girlfriend.

Also watching the romantic gesture: an FHP trooper, who instead noted probable cause for an environmental crime.

Brasfield was charged with polluting to harm humans, animals, plants, etc. under the Florida Air and Water Pollution Control Act.

Let me say something that was very obvious, and served as the backbone of criminal law, up until 25 years ago, when the Marxists, who understand nothing of human nature (and are quite proud of that) began destroying this country:

A criminal code must track with the basic human sense of right and wrong. The law has a make-'em-up rule to prevent people from saying "I didn't know there was a law against this" (ignorance of the law is no defense, it goes), but that's a stupid ass stopgap the law requires to function at all.

Before 25-30 years ago, most people had a sense of what the law was, without having to go to law school, because they understood, intuitively, that some things were bad. Mala in se, the law calls it -- "bad in itself."

But the criminal codes have proliferated mala prohibata offenses -- "bad just because the law has prohibited it" -- like evil freedom-eating Tribbles for 30 years.

Do you know what you are currently permitted to do? Do you know what you will face a criminal penalty for doing?

You don't. None of us are aware of the myriad laws we're breaking every day, simply by doing things that seem obviously legal but some vicious Marxist bureaucrat somewhere decided to put you in jail for.

And this state of affairs works out perfectly for the Marxists.

30 years ago, you'd just assume that anything that wasn't obviously contrary to morality was legal. That is, you'd have a built-in default setting of assuming liberty. And that assumption of liberty would then propel you to take actions.

But now, you have to assume that many things that aren't contrary to morality are illegal anyway. And so you now have -- quel coincidence! -- a built-in default setting of assuming prohibition. And that assumption that many of the things you'd like to do are illegal and criminal thereby reduces your desire to take any action at all.

You become docile, unmotivated, compliant, and risk-averse.

And this state of affairs works out perfectly for those who would control you. Only half the things you'd like to do are actually criminal, but you assume the rest might be too, thus putting it in your head you need State Permission to take virtually any action besides going to work and, of course, paying the state its dues.

Life Imitates Art: I barely remember, but wasn't Winston Smith's actual crime in 1984 loving Julia?

Let's just cut to the endgame and issue people their Sleep Pills, Work Pills, and Sex Pills, and at all other times dose them with libido-reducing sedatives. So that everyone is nicely compliant and in perpetually peaceful service to the State.

posted by Ace at 02:17 PM

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