THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, R.I.P. - PART IV
PROSPECTS (CONTINUED)
By: Roderick T. Beaman
CIVILIAN BUREAUCRACIES
Much the same applies to civilian bureaucracies but there are many differences. The
ordinary office worker and inspector government worker are usually the most benign. They’re
the ones sitting behind desks, shuffling papers or out in the field inspecting facilities.
They’re not the danger.
The true dangers are the ones who make the decisions to prosecute offenders of their
arbitrary regulations. They generally range from the top to the mid-level bureaucrats in
the enforcement divisions. They’re often trying to make names for themselves and don’t
care who gets in their way. They’re the ones whose future depends upon how many
people they screw and their function is to raise money for the Leviathan. Ordinary human
emotions such as pity, charity and kindness, do not apply. They have no place in the
bureaucratic world. They care only for their own power.
Just one example tells you all you ever need to know about the mind set of the
bureaucrat. When home pregnancy kits first were put on the market, the FDA sued to have
authority over them. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court which
decided that diagnosis of pregnancy was not treatment of a disease condition that should
be subject to the FDA’s authority.
The lesson is that every bureaucracy is looking for ways to expand its authority and
power. The more they expand their influence and power, the deeper is their security in
their position. It assures government jobs. And the costs of defending a simple thing like
a harmless home pregnancy kit had to be defended by the company that provided them. Today,
that cost is wrapped into each and every such kit on the market as are the costs of every
other litigation concerning every other single product that has ever had a similar
challenge.
George Washington once said, "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is
force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it
be left to irresponsible action."
Never has that been better illustrated than with bureaucracies. Effectively, immune
from popular responsibility through sovereign immunity and civil service acts, bureaucrats
are free to inflict misery on the people. If it is true, as Harvey Silverglate avers, in
his same titled book, that everyone commits "Three Felonies a Day," then
everyone must also commit twenty misdemeanors a day and for each one is liable and subject
to prosecution.
Today, accused offenders of bureaucratic rules are being taken away in handcuffs by
S.W.A.T. teams with their possessions often subject to seizure under RICO Acts,
effectively eliminating legal defense. So pervasive and open to interpretation are the
regulations that it is possible that political dissenters could be next in line depending
upon the imagination of bureaucrats.
They’ll sit & rail that ignorance of the law is no excuse or that they trust
the people to act as required, two attitudes I’ve witnessed first hand. It doesn’t
matter one iota to them if no harm was done. You violated their regulations, no matter how
obscure, no matter how unexpected, how minor nor how illogical nor contrary to ordinary
reason. Their goal is to crush and humiliate everyone. You are scum to be dealt with
accordingly. |
This is all part and parcel of administrative law, a section of law that
has far more impact on our daily lives yet flies under the radar. Zoning laws, licensing
laws, building codes, environmental laws are all enforced under administrative law. It is
a hydra-headed enemy with a Gordian Knot of rules. Using them, they can ruin anyone and
they know it. One just puts in calls to others and in concert they can make some target’s
life a living hell, death by a thousand cuts. If people do that, it’s called
conspiracy but government gets away with it.
They operate with impunity and without public concern even though the public is far
more likely to be manhandled by them in their day-to-day lives than by the police and
other law enforcement authorities. It is ironic that few libertarians of both the Left
& Right other than people like Silverglate and Gary North pay much attention.
Friedrich Hayek, in his landmark book, The Road to Serfdom, illustrates how in
bureaucracies, the worst get to the top. In fact, that’s the subject of an entire
chapter. The bureaucracy may be our biggest enemy.
THE COURTS
This is a joke. Do not rely on the courts for support of freedom. They have almost
always sided with government against the individual with the exception of some criminal
procedural cases such as Gideon and Miranda. The most recent huge case concerning
Obamacare was just the final nail in the coffin of American freedom. For further
confirmation, see Kelo vs. Connecticut which stripped away all property rights. The court
rarely sides with the individual against a state or a state against the federal
government. Remember, judges are on the government payroll.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Although at Waco, Sheriff Jack Harwell of McLennan County counseled for negotiations
and objected strenuously to the final assault on the Branch Davidian complex or the ‘final
solution’ as it should be called, I don’t foresee most local law enforcement
agencies siding with the people in any dispute. They have all worked hand-in-hand and will
likely continue to do so, simply due to personal familiarity.
There is a new group called Oath Keepers founded in March 2009 by Stewart Rhodes. It’s
for law enforcement officers and gives a long list of unconstitutional orders it will not
enforce. The organization seems sincere but personally, I’ll believe it more when
they take a stand against speed traps and other ridiculous traffic laws and I see local
police officers refusing to participate in them. Most are unreasonable and contrary to
function but they represent a convenient way to harass the people and extort more money
from the people.
SPECIAL CASE - THE FBI
There is no better example the corrupting effect of government than the FBI. There were
constitutional concerns at its founding but Theodore Roosevelt, having been New York City
Police Commissioner, resolved to have a federal police force. Roosevelt, the first
avowedly progressive president, was no friend of liberty and despised the
non-interventionism of his fellow Rushmore honoree, Thomas Jefferson.
J. Edgar Hoover, its legendary longest serving director, used it against organized
crime, especially during the 20s and 30s and its list of apprehensions is impressive. He
also concentrated on communists and other subversives and even the agency’s most
ardent opponents have to admit that he kept it on a very short leash and was impervious to
political pressure. Since his death, it has deteriorated into just another bureaucracy to
be sicced on anyone, at any time, at the discretion of any Attorney General. Of dubious
validity at its inception, it has transmogrified into just another tool of power.
There are hundreds and probably thousands of other government agencies in this country,
especially when you consider state and local governments. Each of them represents a
specific set of threats to our liberty and a huge force for tyranny and evil.
When it comes to bureaucracies and bureaucrats, ordinary law and morality do not apply
and they become less so, the longer the tenure. Any government employee knows that the
most important factor in his next performance review is how assiduously he adheres to the
dictates of the system. They are a crucial part of the obstacles to reassert
freedom.
Once the bureaucratic processing is finished, it’s the final agents, the actors
themselves, who must do the dirty work. At that point, they can rationalize it all away
because it’s been approved by so many ‘in authority’ that ‘it must be
all right.’ And then they go about it. What are the odds they won’t? I think not
too high.
Government is not the friend of freedom. As Mao Zedong said, political power comes from
the point of a gun and government is about nothing other than power. This is just part of
what awaits us. It is important to remember that.
I gist of a statement I once read, attributed to M. Stanton Evans, was that when anyone
becomes a part of the government, he must be viewed as the enemy. Take that to your heart
and live by it. In any encounter with any official, cooperate as little as possible.
Today, anything you say or do can be construed as some type of an offense and used against
you. Even the most casual greeting or question, as simple as where are you headed should
be viewed with suspicion. With the government, there is no such thing as paranoia.
Look for more Wacos and Ruby Ridges and some very nasty events during the collapse of
our country.
This is the final installment if this series. While far from exhaustive, it has
exhausted me and I want to explore other topics. I hope it has given readers something to
think about.
______________________________
Related articles:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
R.I.P.--- THE END OF AN IDEA - PART I
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
R.I.P.--- AWACONING OF AMERICA - PART II
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
R.I.P.--- PROSPECTS - PART III
"Published originally at EtherZone.com :
republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."
Dr. Roderick T. Beaman is an osteopathic
family physician practicing in Jacksonville, Florida. Born in New York City, he attended
New York University as an undergraduate. A recipient of a 2003 Ron Paul Liberty in Media
Award, he has had dreams (delusions?) of becoming a writer. He has written a novel that he
has given up hope of ever getting published and so has made it available for the asking
through TheFreedomBeam@comcast.net.
He is a regular columnist for Ether Zone.
He can be reached at: TheFreedomBeam@comcast.net
Published in the September 25, 2012 issue of Ether Zone.
Copyright © 1997 - 2012 Ether Zone.
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