[T]he moment you limit free speech, it’s not free speech.
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Author: Redactor
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A Learnable Moment
It used to be called “the Blue Flu.”
Cops, in the course of union negotiations, would deliberately slack on the job, or falsely call in sick (the “flu”) . . . just to get more moolah out of union contract negotiations.
Betraying a not wholly dissimilar epidemiology, New York’s finest have cut back on citations and arrests. According to a New York Times report, for “two consecutive weeks, New York City police officers have seemed to sit back, ignoring minor offenses and parking transgressions so completely that only 347 criminal summonses were written in the seven days through Sunday, down from 4,077 in the same period a year ago.”
This doesn’t seem union-directed, but a spontaneous result of the brutal police shootings that followed mass protests against police abuse . . . and seeming support for the protester’s critique from true-blue, left-leaning Mayor Bill de Blasio.
There is much apprehension about the police laggardness, of course.
But there is some jubilation, too, as folks receive fewer parking tickets. It’s mighty difficult to park in the Big Apple; a lot of folks appreciate the reprieve, however temporary.
The rap on the NYPD — and for that matter, police across the country — has regarded over-policing: enforcing the rulebook so aggressively that it becomes harassment. That sort of policing is counter-productive, leading to the current unrest, for instance.
Maybe we can learn something from this experiment in less policing.* We might discover that, in a lot of neighborhoods, less can be more.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* According to recent reports, city government and police officials are trying to crack down on the breakout of police restraint. Regardless of future efficacy of these efforts, inquiry into the results of the inadvertent experiment remain worthwhile.
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Martin Luther King, Jr.
“A man dies when he refuses to do that which is right.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
To download the full-size version of this image, click above.
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Lysander Spooner, January 19
On January 19, 1808, Lysander Spooner was born. Spooner’s achievements in American life, law, and political philosophy, are among the most colorful of the 19th century. Studying law privately, he sued to practice without joining the bar, and won the suit. He set up a postal service that directly competed with the United States Postal Service, delivering mail at a fraction of the cost. He wrote “The Unconstitutionality of Slavery,” and convinced noted Garrisonian abolitionist Frederick Douglass of his argument. (The book became the centerpiece of intellectual ammunition for the Free Soil Party.) Later in life Spooner turned against constiutionalism itself, and penned some of the most radical political works of his day, including “Vices Are Not Crimes” and “The Constitution of No Authority.” Spooner also clearly articulated a “jury nullification” position in his classic treatise “Trial by Jury.”
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Lysander Spooner
Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.
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Montesquieu, Jan 18
On January 18, 1689, Montesquieu, French satirist and philosopher, was born. His treatise “The Spirit of the Laws” was a major influence upon America’s founding generation.
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Grover Cleveland
What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?
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Townhall: Pardon My French
This week over at Townhall, your Common Sense columnist offers a perspective on what has been called the biggest mass protest in human history.
Click on over, then come back here for more reading.
- AP: France Arrests 54 For Defending Terrorism, Announces Crack Down
- Independent Business Times: Who Is Dieudonné? Controversial French Comic Arrested For Charlie Hebdo Facebook Post
- The New Yorker: Why French Law Treats Dieudonné and Charlie Hebdo Differently
- Huffington Post: “Limiting Hate Speech Is Important, Even After Charlie Hebdo” by Erik Bleich, Professor of Political Science, Middlebury College
- The Independent: French police arrest 54 people for ‘defending or glorifying terrorism’
- Common Dreams: Days After Free Speech Rally, France Arrests 54 People for Offensive Speech
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Video: A Capitalist Peace?
Please, please, don’t be a pessimist. Steven Pinker interviewed by Caleb Brown, courtesy of Cato Institute:
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Instead of a Tax Hike
The new Congress is in session and already there’s a push for a tax hike. Republican Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma says, “nothing is off the table.”
Of course the Democrats are chomping at the bit to raise . . . the gas tax. With gas prices having plunged so low, they see a green flag. But then, high prices at the pump are something they like. You know, to “save the planet.”
And across the aisle in the Senate, anyway, it’s not just Inhofe who’s sending up smoke signals to indicate a willingness to “bargain”; Senators Hatch (R-Utah) and Thune (R-SD) seem onboard. (Thankfully, House Republicans appear less enthused.)
To aid the cause, Inhofe calls the gas tax a “user fee.” Euphemistically. He has the tiniest of points: the modern “deal” has been to tax fuel and then use that revenue to pay for new roads and upkeep.
But recent congresses have been spendthrift, misusing the revenues on idiotic projects (hiking trails, bike paths, museums) and not so much on repair. In that context, the call for higher taxes almost looks responsible.
There’s a problem, though. Several.
You cannot go on rewarding government when government fails. They waste money? Why, give them more! Sheer folly.
Further, lower gas prices have meant an effective increase in incomes for regular people. Taxing that away, after so many bad years, is just cruel — to both the middle class and the poor.
Only a politician could call that “responsible”!
I have a modest alternative proposal: Devolve all federal roadways to the states; abolish all federal taxes on fuel. Let the separate states figure best how to fix “our crumbling infrastructure.”
Congress, after all, has failed. Miserably.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.