September 28, 2007
by Clay Barham

Have you ever been part of the chorus saying, "There oughta be a law?"  Then, hear the politicians agreeing with you and writing laws to address the problem causing the chorus?  It is so common it is almost laughable.  When a major crime occurs, the news media gets carried away with the opportunity to attract an audience by reporting, ad infinitum, the story about the crime and the people involved, whether it be Enron or Immigration. In the Duke Lacrosse case, they even pronounced guilt.

Then, it is time for indignant, elected politicians, to stand up and declare their intentions to write a law covering that kind of crime.  They go on all the news shows, dovetailing with the news reports on the criminal investigation and trials, and tell us they are going to make a new law solving all our problems.  They are "on it!"

Now, you know there would be no festive atmosphere or public relations opportunities if all the politician would do is suggest the law enforcement people simply apply the existing laws to the problem.  What is so important to the politician is the posturing on the issue between elections, not that any law they write and pass is ever enforced.  All that is important at the time is the noise. 

Noise attracts attention.  People hearing the politician siding with them on the issue will think he or she is worth electing to another term.  That is the real purpose of the noise.  The same crimes will be committed repeatedly regardless of whether enacting new laws.  There is a distance factor between the actual place of the crime and the lawmaker.  It is a space that allows access to the demons of bureaucratic incompetence to get in the way of sound action.

The simple explanation for all this phony-baloney put-on is precisely that distance.  The greater is the distance, the greater is the noise and the least is the action.  A criminal act, let us say Mr. Vick's dog fights, is carried out in a county.  The county laws apply and county law enforcement should respond and arrest.  The state should have little to do with it except if the crime extends beyond the county. 

The federals should have nothing to do with it, even if it crosses state lines.  Inefficiency starts to compound at the county line, even greater crossing the state line.  At the federal level, the crime now gets the attention of the string-pushing politicians and all manner of fictions are introduced for posturing, whether in favor of the criminal or against him.  The crime begins as an offense against the people and laws of the county and ends up a public relations event for string pushers.

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The basic laws of defining behaviors as crimes are found in the counties and, when those crimes are common to all, in the states.  The counties have the greatest number of trained law enforcement officers, their own grand juries, prosecutors, defense lawyers, courts and jails, while the state houses long term criminal sentences in their own prisons. 

The federal government must grow more police, courts, prisons if they are to replace counties and states so that string-pushers can posture. When they grow in that arena of crime and punishment, they become more of a danger to private citizens, because posturing and favoring certain elements of society, call it discrimination in reverse, will take place for vote pay-offs.  Justice will then become a Democrat strategy.

Let us look closely at immigration.  This is a state and county matter, although one where the Federal Government must do its part to secure the nation's borders.  The arrest and deportation of illegal aliens should be a county and state matter, with support from the Federal Government in handling the deportations.  The counties and states should treat crimes committed by illegal aliens, in that a crime committed in a county jurisdiction is handled in that jurisdiction.

Illegal entry should be treated as a crime. Any individual, legally or illegally in the United States, who commits a crime should be arrested, tried, and if convicted, imprisoned in or in the state of that jurisdiction.  If that is removed to the federal jurisdiction, then the opportunity for string-pushing and posturing politicians comes into play, as is the case now.  If a county's political structure consists of string-pushers who posture, and allow crimes to go untreated, it is easier to either change the politicians or bail to another, more responsible county, then to have only the federals to work with.

The whole idea of centering all legal activities in Washington, D.C., may sound efficient as to avoiding the use of county and state resources, but the security of our nation, which consists of counties and states, will be in greater jeopardy from political infection.

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Clay Barham [send him email] has been a candidate for the California legislature and a stand-in talk show host for ABC.  He was educated in physical and behavioral sciences, with a Ph.D. in sociology.  He is the author of five books, with his latest being Foundations of Modern American Conservatism and Liberalism: The Roots of Freedom and Tyranny.  Visit his website at http://www.claysamerica.com.