In 1748, Montesquieu noted “Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.”
In 1957, Ayn Rand wrote “There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”
In 2008, Professor John Baker of the LSU recorded that there are at least 4,450 offenses in United States Federal Criminal Law. These are offenses which are not the “normal” criminal offenses which one would find in state law. The vast majority of these are offenses which would not even be recognized as crimes by the founders of our great nation.
Worse, the United States Congress is now creating a new criminal offense more than once per week. You and I are legally obligated to understand and comply with each of these new laws — or face incarceration in federal prison.
The Heritage Foundation has created a web site, Over Criminalized, to educate Americans about the damage these laws are doing to our constitutional republic.
One such case is McNab v. United States. David McNab was sentenced to eight years in the federal penitentiary for violating a Honduran exporting regulation. David was accused of exporting lobster in plastic bags instead of cardboard boxes. The Honduran government is not prosecuting David. In fact, the law was never signed into force and is therefore not an active law in Honduras. But under the Lacey Act, David was convicted of violating a foreign law and sentenced to eight years in prison — for using plastic instead of paper.
Visit the site and read some of the other truly insane case studies. You will most likely find yourself shocked at the sad state of American jurisprudence. Then, please, call your congress critters and tell them to fix these travesties against justice.
