Every Law Has Unintended Consequences
There is nothing more risky than passing a law
Paul Craig Roberts
In books and articles I have written about law, I have emphasized that a law unfolds to the limit of its extent (and so do rules and regulations.) For example RICO and asset forfeiture laws intended to make it easier to convict the Mafia by denying them access to their money, leaving them unable to hire lawyers, unfolded to the extent that police would stop cars and, if drivers had more than $100 in cash, confiscate the cash on the grounds that the amount indicted intention to buy or sell drugs. Perhaps the ultimate example was the police use of a motel room in a drug or prostitution sting. The police then confiscated the motel on the grounds that the motel had facilitated a drug or prostitution crime. RICO laws have even found their way into marriage divorce cases.
As a few Americans might be aware, the liberal-left and Israel, for different reasons, have been working hard to establish a regime of hate speech and to criminalize it. This has already occurred in Britain. There are 13,000 British citizens in prison because their social media tweets were interpreted by authorities as hate crimes.
In the US there is an AIPAC bill before Congress that criminalizes criticism of Israel. Indeed, the association of the First Amendment with hate speech, which is about to be criminalized, is far advanced. I recently reported that a person wearing a t-shirt with the message “bombing kids is not self defense” was told by United Airlines that he could not fly on their airline attired in offensive hate speech. There is, as of yet, no such law, but United Airlines is already enforcing it.
An even more preposterous case reported by The Epoch Times has occurred in Trinidad, Texas, a tiny East Texas town of 800 people. A resident, Jennifer Combs, posed on her Facebook page:
“We are receiving reports of possible water quality issues, including concerns about bacteria and unsafe conditions. We take these reports very seriously and are currently verifying the information. If your water is discolored, has sediment, odor, or if you or your family have experienced illness you believe may be related, please reach out.”
She said the information would be given to the authorities and the situation rectified.
Instead, the police arrived at her home with a felony warrant. She was accused of spreading false information and creating a public panic despite the fact that the residents knew of the problem and were relying on bottled water.
What we are observing here is not just a willingness of public authorities even at the lowest level to violate the First Amendment. We also are seeing that grass roots efforts to direct public attention to a problem results in felony arrest.
As I write, it is July 17, one day short of two weeks since America celebrated its July 4 Independence Day. Clearly, Americans are not “free” and “independent.” They cannot even call alert to dirty water without being arrested.
Americans, most of whom live in false narratives, are the least free people on Earth. And if the AIPAC bills in Congress, supported by the Trump regime and the Republican Party, that criminalize criticism of Israel and merge the US with Israel militarily, economically, and politically pass, as it seems they will, to celebrate July 4 in the future will be to participate in a delusion.