2. Crazy Laws“The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.” -William Edgar Borah Home | Table of Contents | Next Chapter When the Founding Fathers created the United States, being a member of Congress was a part-time job. Congressmen actually had a job outside of government. They were farmers or businessmen. This is an important contrast to people who are in Congress today, because a part-time legislature has three benefits.
Now look at today's Congressmen and state legislators. Many Congressman are lawyers and do not come from farms or businesses. They are out of touch with the working people and the meaning of capitalism. Also, being a Congressman is a full-time job and they employ an army of staff. So that is what they do. They keep passing laws and regulations. The legislators are not concern whether the law is good or bad, or more importantly, what the long-term consequences of new laws are. For example, legislators look at the news and see one heart-wrenching story, and then they instantly pass a new law with no regards to logic or long-term consequences. Even if the law achieves the opposite effect, Congress and state legislators rarely appeal these laws. They are too busy passing new laws. A legislator’s only goal is to pass laws, so he can provide feedback to their constituents, that indeed, he is working. Not only are new laws being passed at a furious rate, the laws are written in confusing and vague language. The current U.S. legal structure is disorganized and illogical from a large number of confusing laws. Here are some examples of ridiculous laws, where legislators did not think carefully of the laws they passed:
Governments passed these crazy laws, so someone has to enforce them. Does Texas add another criminal charge if a criminal does not give their victim a 24-hour notice? Does the City of Chico have enforcement officers with Geiger counters running around the city searching for nuclear weapons violations? Does the City of Pacific Grove have officers monitoring the butterflies and ensure that they are not being molested? Do police or inspectors in Los Angeles follow taco drivers around and ensure they do not park for over an hour? Do governments have so much resources and time that they can dedicate officers to enforce these crazy laws? Legislators and Congress do not understand that laws can create the opposite behavior. For example, the public and politicians were disgusted by the profanity and explicit language in rap and rock music. So how did government fix this problem? Under threat from the federal government to pass a new law and give the Federal Trade Commission vast new authority [4], the music companies decided to self-regulate and place advisory labels on CDs and audiocassette tapes. No one under the age of 18 can buy music with explicit language. What is the true outcome of this self-regulation? Government drew attention to what kind of language is contained in music, so young people being naturally rebellious are drawn to the profanity-laced lyrics. Minors can also find adults that will buy this music for them. Further, some rappers were even competing who could get the most advisory labels on their music. These advisory labels became status symbols to musicians and rebellious teenagers. Another bad law is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The law had good intentions. Some people are downloading pirated books, music, movies, and software from the internet; piracy on the internet is flourishing. Artists, authors, and software creators should be awarded for their creations, and not have people free load and enjoy the copyrighted material for free. Thus, Congress along with the President wanted to protect the artists and authors and enhanced the copyright laws for music, movies, and books. The law had two parts. First, it is illegal to defeat or circumvent any encryption system used in “electronic” media. Second, it is illegal to design, distribute, or sale technologies that allow circumvention. What is the impact of this law?
Some of the new laws are anti-capitalistic. For example, the State of Washington is cracking down on house flippers. The state believes house flippers renovate houses with substandard work and are part of the underground economy. A new law requires a person who is buying a home has to occupy the home for at least one year in order to re-sell the home. If a person plans to flip the property, he has to register as a contractor or hire registered contractors. Any person found violating this regulation can be fined $1,000 per day per jobsite. Severe violations can result in criminal prosecution [5]. What is wrong with buying a home, fixing it up, and selling it for a higher price? That is capitalism! Government does not really need to protect home buyers in this case; the market has already taken care of that. A potential home buyer can hire an inspector who will thoroughly check the home for problems and spot any shoddy, defective work. Legislators and Congressmen do not understand that strict enforcement of the law may create more criminals. For instance, many young people experiment with marijuana. During the 1960’s, government imposed fines for marijuana possession, and the conviction did not follow that person throughout his life. (This was the good ole days before the arrival of massive computer databases). Now, some states have really increased the penalties for marijuana use. If a court convicts a person of possessing marijuana, the defendant could be fined, placed on probation, or sentenced to jail (or prison). This strict approach causes four problems:
A person, who is convicted of marijuana charges, may not able to find good work, obtain an education, a place to live, an essential government license, or join the military. What choices are left to this individual? Instead of being a drug user, he may now have to become a drug dealer. Even Texas has stepped up the insanity. Repeated offenders can have simple marijuana possession charge enhanced from a misdemeanor to felony charges. A felony charge in Texas is like a death sentence, because many institutions check the Texas Department of Public Safety’s database for criminal convictions. That should definitely help these people find jobs and become law-abiding citizens one day. Unfortunately, the State of Texas has a massive prison system that needs to be continuously fed inmates. The bad news is many government leaders believe they are above the law and exempt from their own rules. Above the LawLawmakers and politicians are willing to pass thousands and thousands of laws, rules, and regulations and impose stringent penalties for any violations. They portray themselves as saviors that must lead the flock of sheep along the righteous path. Here is the kicker. These same politicians believe they are above the law and exempt from their own laws. Some of these politicians and lawmakers will flagrantly violate their own laws, rules, and regulations. If these same politicians are caught for a misdeed, then they believe they can apologize and asked the public for forgiveness. A wide variety of cases brings this message out:
Why do some of our political leaders do things that are illegal, immoral, or just downright dirty? Two factors explain this. The first is greed. We live in a materialistic society, and thus, they want to elevate themselves to the top social class. Salaries for public servants are not that high; hence, they have to come up with other ways to elevate themselves. Moreover, political campaigns cost millions of dollars. Public servants have to get this money from somewhere. The second is psychological. Public officials are in a position of power. Our political leaders believe they are better than everyone else and above scrutiny. You probably did not realize this, but our Congressmen do not collect social security when they retire. They voted themselves a much better plan where they earn their full salary until their death. Further, Congress routinely exempts itself from its own laws? Congressional representatives do not have to abide by minimum wage, discrimination, and other laws. Here is how they did it. If you carefully read the federal laws, Congress lists all the parties that the law applies. However, Congressmen never list themselves, and thus, exempt. Some politicians and political insiders are not dirty and not corrupt. However, they still tend to form good ole boy networks for two reasons. First, many issues in the United States are equally divided. For the politicians to get their agenda and laws passed, they have to form alliances with leaders and politicians from other groups. Politicians and political insiders form social clubs among themselves like college fraternities and sororities. Second, our laws, rules, and regulations are complicated. A complicated legal structure makes it complicated to bring in newcomers. Regulators and government officials have to spend a lot of time with newcomers to bring them up to speed. If a newcomer screws up the paperwork, projects and money can get delayed, creating headaches for government officials and bureaucrats. Life is simpler to work with the same people and organizations, thus forming these good ole boy networks. Another problem is politicians and politically connected people do not like to pay taxes. Of course, President Obama illuminated this recent epidemic of tax evaders by simply filling positions in his government. The President has numerous candidates with tax problems. The first was Tim Geithner, the Treasury Secretary. He did not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes when he worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) [10]. What makes this egregious is the Internal Revenue Service collects these taxes and is a department within the Department of Treasury. The other nominations with tax problems were Tom Daschle, nominated for director of Health and Human Services [11], Nancy Killefer, nominated for chief performance officer nominee, Hilda Solis, nominated and appointed secretary of Department of Labor [12], and Ron Kirk, nominated for the U.S. Trade Representative [13]. The good news is President Obama is off to a good start for collecting back taxes. A universal law is everyone hates paying taxes. However, politicians are in a unique position. They know they are not likely to be caught. How often does the Internal Revenue Service audit a President or Congressmen? Likewise, how often does a state tax authority audit a governor or legislator? These politicians pass laws that tax authorities have to follow and they also appoint the leadership of tax authorities. Consequently, these politicians know they can cheat on their taxes and not get caught. Heaven forbid a businessman or citizen tries to cheat a tax authority. Tax authorities can be quite brutal if the tax inspectors believe a citizen owes taxes. Now we understand why dead politicians easily win elections. Division of PeopleThe politicians deliberately passed laws giving preferential to one gender, race, or social class. The reason is to address a previous injustice and to cement an alliance between the politicians and the disadvantage group. However, the current U.S. legal structure is pitting the poor against the rich, women against men, minorities against white people, and children against adults, causing bitterness and rancor among different groups in society. Government is pitting the rich against the poor. The common view of rich people in America is that somehow they unfairly, illegally, or immorally earned their wealth. Politicians espouse this view, because the rich are a source of tax revenue. For instance, many states are experiencing severe financial difficulties after the 2008 Financial Crisis. Tax revenues are falling, so what is government brilliant idea? Tax the Rich! This sounds like a simple solution, but it has three problems.
There is nothing wrong with being rich. Being rich is the ultimate reward for providing a valuable good or service to society. Where did some of our large computer companies come from? Bill Gates started Microsoft in a run down motel in New Mexico, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs started Apple computers in their garage in California, and Michael Dell started Dell Computers in his dorm room at the University of Texas. Even if a person inherits his wealth, he still has to remain vigilant and still has to do some work. If he makes a wrong investment decision or hires an accountant that steals him blind, then this rich person could end up on the streets as a poor person. This is true social mobility and it works in both directions. Some poor people can become rich while some rich can become poor. State laws for domestic violence are pitting women against men. Daily T.V. commercials inform women that all men are violent and if there is any violence, immediately call the police. Of course, states created special courts to hear domestic violence cases and encourage the police to arrest any and all males for suspected domestic violence. Therefore, a state can charge a person with domestic violence, even with the absence of physical contact. For example, in Oklahoma, a couple arguing in front of a child is committing domestic violence, but women are never the perpetrators. Police always arrest the males. Domestic violence laws are not bad. If a partner physically hurts his mate, then he should be arrested. However, males should not be arrested for a scratch on an arm or the couple was verbally arguing. Some judges do not understand that some women will falsely accuse a man of domestic violence in certain cases. For example, if a woman wants to divorce her husband, then a false domestic charge swings the divorce decree in her favor. Many divorce attorneys in Colorado encourage a woman to file charges for anything that could be construed as domestic violence, which helps the women during divorce proceedings. Some men have the view that they become slaves to women. Once a woman is done with a man, she can call the state and have him removed and then the woman legally takes all his assets. Another factor dividing men and women is sexual harassment. The theory of sexual harassment is employees in the workplace should not be constantly subjected to sexual advances or material if they do not want it. This applies to males too. Common sense dictates the following is sexual harassment.
What is the official definition of sexual advancement? The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines sexual harassment as “verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature [that] unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.” This sounds broad and lawyers can interpret this broadly. For example, in California, men can be sued for staring at a woman. What about the converse? Can a man sue a woman, if she wears provocative clothes? Is the EEOC going to initiate dress codes to stop unwanted stares? Is this law broad enough where government can construe any conflict between males and females as sexual harassment? Sexual harassment laws are dividing males and females in the workplace and have a negative impact on the work environment. Political correctness dictates that men sexually harass women. Thus, many men are afraid of asking a woman for a date in a workplace or make a joke that can be taken out of context. Further, some women can falsely accuse a male worker to get the male in trouble or fired. The problem is lawsuits. Not only can the woman sue the male, but also her employer. If a woman can show a company did not take her seriously, then the employer becomes liable. Thus, the easy solution is to fire any males if any conflict in the workplace arises between genders. The current anti-discrimination laws are pitting whites against the minority groups. The United States was wrong for allowing slavery to flourish in the south and encouraging discrimination. The next step is to move society towards a system that does not look at a person’s race and eliminate all forms of discrimination. Martin Luther King stated it best, “my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” To eliminate racial discrimination, everyone should become color blind with respect to skin color. However, the federal and state governments went in the opposite direction. Federal and state governments require employers to collect race information on applicants. The next step is statistical analysis. Businesses do not want to appear racists, so they may favor the hiring of minorities. Even though this may be against the law, a human resource department can find reasons to reject a white applicant’s application, but discount negative information in a minorities’ application. Further, businesses could be sued if they appear racists or denied a government contract. Minority workers who are fired can sue and claim discrimination. Further complicating the matter is a split in the law. Employers are not allowed to look at race, but the education system can. Many universities, like the University of Michigan, have favorable admission policies for minorities without being illegal [16]. It is not bad for an employer or university to always choose a minority out of an applicant pool if the applicants have similar qualifications. However, many white males feel as if they are at the bottom of the applicant pool, despite their qualifications and education, creating bitter feelings between white males and everyone else. Laws are pitting children against adults. Rules and regulations have gotten so stringent, parents and school officials cannot spank children or if spanking is allowed in a state, many restrictions apply. Kids know this! If a parent, teacher, or principal lays any hand on them, they know they can call the police and have that person arrested. The law treats all kids as little darlings who can do no wrong. Moreover, teachers, and principals are getting arrested for restraining kids, when kids fight or cause food fights [17]. Giving children free reign in arresting parents, teachers, and principals will have three impacts on the education system:
Education is a coercive process. Students must sit at a desk and study material that they would not normally study on their own. Kids usually have a favorite class, but they have to be forced to learn material for classes they do not like. Remember the old phrase “spare the rod and spoil the child.” Giving into or catering to children will not help them learn discipline or study difficult subjects. Unfortunately, children do not appreciate an education until they are 30 and beginning their career. That is when they wished they should have studied harder. Complexity of U.S. LawsThe current U.S. legal system has evolved into an extremely complicated system. The U.S. federal, state, county, and city governments can all create and change laws. Unfortunately, all these laws at all levels of government can occupy volumes and volumes of books and literally span a whole floor in a public library. Unfortunately, here is where the real problem lies. We have so many laws in the United States; nobody can know them all! Further, if government catches you violating any one of these laws, the government can seize your property, impose large fines, and/or incarcerate you in jail or prison. This is the real travesty of our complex legal system. Not everybody can be lawyers, but with millions of laws, regulations, and ordinances on the books, anybody and everybody are potential criminals. Thus, government at all levels must continuously scrutinize their citizens. Do you think I am joking? Everyone has heard these cases:
How did the legal system become so complicated? Let us start with the federal government. The premier document that establishes the federal government is the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Federal law changes from the following:
Unfortunately, the complexity does not stop here, but continues. The state and municipal governments also replicate the federal structure. Every state has a constitution and its own code of laws. Like the federal government, the state legislature and governor can sign new laws into existence, the state agencies interpret these laws, and the state court system can change and modify these laws. The municipal governments are different from the state and federal governments, and usually have the most contact with its citizens. At the county level, each county has a board of commissioners that run a county government. The board can pass laws, which are known as ordinances and resolutions. An ordinance is a law that everyone in the county has to follow, while a resolution is something that the board wants done. Usually, the ordinances and resolutions are used for managing the county, because a county is a subdivision of the state. Furthermore, each county has government agencies and a court system. The court system is part of the state system and has at least two divisions: Criminal and civil. Criminal courts hear cases for violations of state laws, while civil handles disputes between two parties. Larger urban counties can have more specialized courts. A city government is similar to a public corporation. When a community becomes large enough, the community writes a charter. If the state accepts the charter, the city legally comes into existence and becomes incorporated. The mayor is similar to a president of a corporation, the city council is similar to a board of directors, and the city residents are similar to the stockholders. The city council and mayor can pass new laws, which are ordinances and resolutions and all city meetings are supposed to be open to the public. Local government is supposed to be transparent and all its decisions involve the public. Moreover, many city governments created a municipal court. These courts usually hear violations of city code while criminal or civil cases are usually heard in the county courts. Usually municipal courts are not courts of records. Consequently, no stenographer records court proceedings. Some people refer to these courts as “courts of revenue,” because citizens are automatically found guilty with the judge assessing fines on the defendants. Many city governments post their municipal code on their website or on www.municode.com. These legal systems are not independent from each other. Municipal governments have become a door mat for the state and federal governments. The higher-level governments continuously impose laws and mandates on the municipal governments. A mandate is the government tells the agency what to do, but does not provide funding to comply with the mandate. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told city water departments in central Oklahoma that their arsenic levels were too high. These water departments now have more cost to remove the arsenic, and the EPA did not provide funding for the higher cost. Why is this so dirty? Nobody asked what the residents of central Oklahoma wanted. Many households drink filtered water or have filtering systems that could remove the arsenic. The EPA made its decisions and residents of central Oklahoma have to pay for it. All levels of government are continuously creating new laws and re-interpreting old ones. How does government know that people are following the laws? The counterpart to laws is enforcers. As a legal system expands, government has to hire more enforcers to ensure the laws are followed. Unfortunately, government likes results. Therefore, enforcers have to find violators, thus providing proof to government that indeed, they are working hard and all these laws are making society a better place to live. ConclusionWhat has happen to us? How did government and politicians come along and think they can cure everybody’s problem or help protect us from all the evil in this world. Unfortunately, it is impossible to protect us from all the evil in the world. Bad, evil things happen to good, honest people all the time and will continue to happen to good, honest people all the time. Stacking law upon law will not help the economy, will not help businesses thrive, and will not help job growth. Continuously passing laws or continually increasing the complexity of the laws has a negative impact on an economy. Some of the consequences are:
Unfortunately, people who make their living directly from the legal system will fight against de-regulation or simplification of the rules. For example, the overly complicated tax code has given birth to a whole industry of tax accountants, consultants, and computer software companies. If government tried to simplify the tax system like imposing a flat tax, the tax industry would fight the change. Another example is if states de-criminalized marijuana use, then states would incarcerate fewer drug dealers and courts would hear fewer cases for marijuana. Thus, the court and prison systems would have to contract, because marijuana violations comprise a large fraction of court cases. The expansion of drug laws is what fueled the massive expansion of federal and state prisons since the 1960s. Home | Table of Contents | Next Chapter References[1] Chico Municipal Code. “Nuclear Free Zone Law.” Division IX – Nuclear Weapons, Chapter 9.60. Accessed on (5/15/08) at ttp://www.chico.ca.us/municipal_code/title_9.pdf [2] Pacific Grover Municipal Code. “ Monarch Butterflies.” Title 11 Health, Safety, and Environment, Chapter 48.010. Accessed on (5/20/08) at http://www.ci.pg.ca.us/ [3] Rogers, John. May 15, 2008. “In L.A., controversy sizzles over taco truck restrictions.” Houston Chronicle. [4] Lieberman, Joe. April 26, 2001. “The Media Marketing Accountability Act.” Available at http://lieberman.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=208614 (access date 01/12/09). [5] Howell, Parker, May 29, 2008. “House flipping now can draw hefty fines.” Spokesman Review. [6] Aho, Karen. November 27, 2007. “The Basics: What illegal drug use can cost you.” MSNBC [7] Arena, Kelli and John King. March 11, 2008. “Source: Spitzer investigated for link to prostitution ring.” CNN Politics.com [8] Coen, Jeff. April 3, 2009. “Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich indicted.” Los Angeles Times. [9] Associated Press. December 16, 2008. “Former NH lawyer stops payments for art thefts.” Auction Central News. [10] Wolf, Bryon. January 26, 2009. “Senate Approves Geithner Despite Tax Issues.” ABC News. Available at http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/President44/story?id=6733907&page=1 (access date 05/15/09). [11] Freking, Kevin. February 2, 2009. “Daschle apologizes for failure to pay $120,000 in taxes.” Houston Chronicle. [12] Kelley, Matt. February 5, 2009. “Tax snafus add up for Obama team.” USA Today. Available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-05-solis-husband-taxes_N.htm (access date 05/15/09). [13] Murray, Mark. March 2, 2009. “More tax problems for Team Obama?” MSNBC. Available at http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/03/02/1817065.aspx (access date 05/15/09). [14] WBNG News. December 16, 2008. “Governor Paterson's Executive Budget.” WBNG. [15] Christie, Jim. December 11, 2008. “California budget shortfall seen nearing $42 billion.” Reuters [16] Trachtman, Michael G. 2003. “Is There Anything Wrong With Favoring Minorities To Promote Diversity In Your Workplace?” NewsletterAccess.com. Available at http://www.newsletteraccess.com/display_article.php?id=10099 (access date: 12/24/08). [17] Pape, John. 2008. “Principal Claims Innocence, Says His Arrest Sends Wrong Signal.” Fort Bend Now. Available at www.fortbendnow.com (access date 07/03/08). [18] U.S. Government Printing Office. 2007. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Washington, DC: Available at http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS94451 (access date 10/21/08).. |