We need indolent cops
The post just below on Georgia Thompson together with a book I'm now reading on Irish history got me thinking about the true source of freedom in society. Sadly, I'm becoming more and more convinced that the only true source of freedom in any society is to have an indolent and slightly corrupt police force and justice system.
Stop and think for just a moment. I doubt that there are more than a handful of people in this country who could withstand a really thorough scrutiny by a truly determined prosecutor intent on finding a crime. Have you ever smoked a joint? Driven while slightly tipsy? Looked at a picture of a naked girl, who might, unknown to you, be a minor? Paid cash to the house painter or yard service when they requested it (hence aiding and abetting tax fraud)? Overlooked some cash income you yourself received when filing your tax returns? Failed to rat on your boss when he took a business tax deduction for his vacation home in Florida even though you know there is no business purpose for it? Said quietly to your spouse or best friend, without intending to do it, that the president (this one or, if you're a Thuglican, that one) deserved to be shot? If so, a truly determined prosecutor could probably send you to jail.
You get the point perhaps. But, even if you haven't infringed on any law, a determined cop or prosecutor can always plant some evidence or just make up a case out of whole cloth like that against Georgia Thompson.
From Irish history, I glean the following. In the early 18th century the Catholic Irish were suffering under British imposed religious laws that made it a crime punishable by death for any Catholic Bishop or friar to exist in the country. Nevertheless, both Bishops and friars continued to be active, largely because the police force was not sufficient to stop them in a country otherwise firmly supporting them. And, even when determined efforts were made to hunt down the offending friars, they were usually unsuccessful. Here's a short passage from Robert Kee's Ireland: A History:
In November 1731, the constabulary raided the house of the Augustinian friars but "no friar was found there. An entry in the Augustinian house-book or journal ... does much to explain why. It does indeed report that no public Mass was held of the Sunday of that week by the friars 'because of persecution.' But it also records that on 9 November 1731 there was issued: 'A bottle of wine for ye Sheriffs ... one shilling and one penny.'
"The sherriffs were equally unsuccessful in finding any friars in their official raid on a Dominican house in another part of Galway about the same time. But they did better in other respects. The relevant entry in the Dominican journal runs '... for claret to treat ye Sheriffs in their search ... two shillings and twopence.'"
So, what we really need to preserve our freedoms is an indolent police force with a taste for liquor.
Find me a politician whose calling for that, and I'll vote for him/her.
Stop and think for just a moment. I doubt that there are more than a handful of people in this country who could withstand a really thorough scrutiny by a truly determined prosecutor intent on finding a crime. Have you ever smoked a joint? Driven while slightly tipsy? Looked at a picture of a naked girl, who might, unknown to you, be a minor? Paid cash to the house painter or yard service when they requested it (hence aiding and abetting tax fraud)? Overlooked some cash income you yourself received when filing your tax returns? Failed to rat on your boss when he took a business tax deduction for his vacation home in Florida even though you know there is no business purpose for it? Said quietly to your spouse or best friend, without intending to do it, that the president (this one or, if you're a Thuglican, that one) deserved to be shot? If so, a truly determined prosecutor could probably send you to jail.
You get the point perhaps. But, even if you haven't infringed on any law, a determined cop or prosecutor can always plant some evidence or just make up a case out of whole cloth like that against Georgia Thompson.
From Irish history, I glean the following. In the early 18th century the Catholic Irish were suffering under British imposed religious laws that made it a crime punishable by death for any Catholic Bishop or friar to exist in the country. Nevertheless, both Bishops and friars continued to be active, largely because the police force was not sufficient to stop them in a country otherwise firmly supporting them. And, even when determined efforts were made to hunt down the offending friars, they were usually unsuccessful. Here's a short passage from Robert Kee's Ireland: A History:
In November 1731, the constabulary raided the house of the Augustinian friars but "no friar was found there. An entry in the Augustinian house-book or journal ... does much to explain why. It does indeed report that no public Mass was held of the Sunday of that week by the friars 'because of persecution.' But it also records that on 9 November 1731 there was issued: 'A bottle of wine for ye Sheriffs ... one shilling and one penny.'
"The sherriffs were equally unsuccessful in finding any friars in their official raid on a Dominican house in another part of Galway about the same time. But they did better in other respects. The relevant entry in the Dominican journal runs '... for claret to treat ye Sheriffs in their search ... two shillings and twopence.'"
So, what we really need to preserve our freedoms is an indolent police force with a taste for liquor.
Find me a politician whose calling for that, and I'll vote for him/her.
posted by walldon | 8:54 AM
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