“Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.” So said Lavrentiy Beria, head of Joseph Stalin’s secret police, per Quozio. Beria served as the Soviet deputy premier from 1941 until Stalin’s death in 1953, according to the Oxford Eagle. Beria, per the Free Dictionary, “Soviet chief of secret police; killed by his associates shortly after Stalin’s death.” History reminds us that petty tyrants often fall victim to the very tactics they themselves used on behalf of their powerful masters. Stossel in the Classroom says the Beria remark is a reminder how “everyone is a criminal.” A discussion aid says: “John Stossel and Rafael Mangual discuss overcriminalization and how more laws creates more criminals out of ordinary Americans.” They pointed out that “America now has over 300,000 federal laws–and that doesn’t include state laws,” so the odds are good that you or I violated several laws during the course of the day, often unwittingly. Given the legal principle that ‘ignorance of the law is no defense,’ the ability for petty or larger tyrants to find a charge against almost anyone is perhaps more possible today than at any prior point in American history.
During the prior administration of deposed President of the United States (POTUS) Donald J. Trump, he announced that the federal government would remove 2 regulations for each new regulation enacted. That was supposed to be good for business, but it also had other impacts too. Consider the point made by StosselInTheClassroom.org, which asserted that “At the Federal level, ninety-eight percent of criminal laws are not passed by elected representatives.” Rather, those ‘laws’ are put in place by unelected bureaucrats.
Stossel isn’t alone in pointing out these problems.
In 2009 a book was published under the title “Three Felonies a Day” by Harvey A. Silverglate. Google books says: “The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day.” The reasons mirror what Stossel and Mangual discussed. “Harvey Allen Silverglate is an attorney, journalist, writer, and co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education,” says Wikipedia. A critic of Silverglate says he exaggerated, that it is ‘only’ 3 felony a month that the average person is committing. But having said that, the Silverglate critic then said the effect is still the same.
The left-leaning Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), referencing that book said on 6.10.2015: “Harvard University professor Harvey Silverglate estimates that daily life in the United States is so over-criminalized, the average American professional commits about three felonies a day. That’s astounding. Yet despite our addiction to incarceration, some of the worst offenders aren’t punished by the criminal justice system at all. And I’m not even talking about the Wall Street crooks who gamed the system and crashed our economy. Whether it’s due to statutes of limitations, to political shenanigans, or because victims are reluctant to come forward, some high-profile sex offenders beat the rap until the court of public opinion intervenes.”
That observation from left-leaning IPS was posted during the left-leaning Obama-Biden administration.
The IPS post drew to a conclusion by saying: “But it’s no substitute for a justice system that prosecutes actual criminals — no matter how famous or powerful they happen to be — instead of wasting time and taxpayer money locking up ordinary people for their “three felonies a day.””
This writer for MHProNews took to WND to pen an op-ed that pointed out that there have been several high profile cases involving corporate malfeasance and/or fraud in the 21st century alone. Some of those instances directly impacted our profession. Several high profile cases had ties to high profile Democratic and Republican politicians. In each instance, a failure by much of the media and numbers of public officials occurred before the issue sufficiently broke into the public awareness that media and public officials finally swung into action. In many of those instances, some level of justice was achieved, such as the successful prosecution of Bernie Madoff or more recently Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes. A more detailed version of that WND op-ed was published on MHLivingNews at this link.
Much of the power, and much of the revenue, of the U.S. federal government is interlaced with big business and other special interests. The federal government is so big and bloated that despite years of publicity on the trillions of dollars cumulatively lost in the later 20th and throughout the 21st century to waste, fraud, corruption, and abuse, the system just continued to roll on. There are serious doubts that the federal government can reform itself.
Elected and appointed officials getting wealthy while in office often draws a shrug. Why? Not because it is correct. But rather because numbers of citizens don’t see a practical path to fixing the issues.
That noted, people of good will do have solutions in mind.
By 2025, the proponents of an Article V Convention of the States hope to have enough states signed on to force consideration of certain proposals designed to reign in federal power. Recall that the 10th Amendment in the original “Bill of Rights” said: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Federal powers under the Constitution were supposed to be limited, not unlimited. The further the federal power has slipped from the states and “We the People” the more it has fallen under the influence of financial, media, and tech elites that work with lobbyists and public officials to exert an outsized influence on public policies. Those influences routinely favor larger organizations over smaller independent businesses or the rights of individual employees or retirees.
Without debating the merits of those proposed Article V Convention of the States (COS) notions, an argument could be made that perhaps more fundamental steps, also pondered by people of good will, need to be considered to right what’s wrong in Washington, D.C. Because Warren Buffett isn’t alone in saying that the big business wants more power as do professional politicos. From the left and right, sober voices have raised the alarm about the loss of rights that have led us to this point where several felonies (daily or monthly) could be charged against everyday American citizens.
What are some of those proposed steps to limit the runaway power that has been concentrated in Washington D.C. that are benefiting the few at great cost and risk to the many?
The arguments have been made that the federal government’s power and spending should be trimmed back in the following ways.
- Abolish or severely pare down several federal agencies. Despite billions of spending, collectively trillions over the years, most of the problems federal agencies were supposed to ‘solve’ are often no better – and at times, worse – then when a given agency was created decades ago. Restated, the federal government has demonstrated they can’t do the job properly and don’t do them without hundreds of billions of dollars annually lost to waste, fraud, and abuse. So, instead of letting the feds fill those roles, let the individual states deal with those issues as they wish. Each state can do so in a manner that is closer to home, and thus should be more responsive to the will of their citizens.
- Repeal the 17th Amendment. The Constitution Center and Heritage are among the organizations that have written about this option. Per John York, Ph.D. writing for Heritage on 8.22.2018 in an article which opposes the measure, said: “Repealing the 17th Amendment, which would end the direct election of U.S. senators and return the power of appointing senators to state legislatures.” It should be noted that state appointment of U.S. senators would not end politicking, but it could trim back dramatically the costly campaigns that routinely favor those with the deepest pockets who have ‘rigged the system’ in their own favor.
- Repeal the 16th Amendment (repealing the ‘income tax’ amendment). It isn’t just the Tea Party Patriots that have proposed that, but so too has a post on leftist MoveOn.org. That later source made these points: “It is time to repeal the 16th Amendment, the constitutional provision that authorizes the federal income tax (as well as other taxes). As its critics predicted when the amendment was passed in 1913, the income tax has become “a terror and torment to the honest citizen.” It is absurdly complicated, inefficient and intrusive. Overzealous bureaucrats and politicians frequently abuse it.”
- That repeal the 16th Amendment MoveOn post by “Legion” goes on to say: “For many of the Founders, the very idea of taxing individuals (as opposed to objects, as with a sales tax) was highly offensive. These “capitations” or “head taxes” were regarded as options of last resort, only to be imposed in war or other emergency. The first federal income tax was imposed during the Civil War; it was soon repealed. Not until the 1890s did Congress assess a peacetime income tax. The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1895. Referring to the explicit prohibition against direct taxation in Article I, the court argued that the income tax would excessively enhance federal power in relation to state power.”
- For those who need the reminder, the Constitution Center said: “The 18th Amendment. Prohibition of Liquor. Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16, 1919. Repealed by the 21st Amendment, December 5, 1933.” Anything that has been accomplished before can be done again.
- The AmericanActionForum said in 2017 that: “Based on American Action Forum (AAF) research, the IRS currently imposes 8.1 billion hours ofpaperwork…” Forbes said in 2016 that: All in all, tax compliance will cost the U.S. economy $409 billion this year.” As the petition above made clear, the income tax is a huge waste of time and has proven to be capable of abuse. Want more freedom? Do away with the income tax and the bulk of the IRS could go with it.
Then, consider what Don Trump Jr. had to say, as reported in the Masthead posted below.
Much of what’s gone wrong that has limited our industry in the 21st century can be traced back to the failure to enforce good laws. When someone follows the money trail, special interests used their connections in ways that benefit themselves while routinely harming their competitors. Several of the reports that follow make their respective points and provide the evidence.
Don’t miss today’s postscript.
With no further adieu, here are the reports for the week that was from 5.29.2022 to 6.5.2022.
What’s New on the Masthead
What’s New on MHLivingNews
What’s New from Washington, D.C. from MHARR
What’s New on the Words of Wisdom
What’s New on the Daily Business News on MHProNews
Saturday 6.4.2022
Friday 6.3.2022
Thursday 6.2.2022
Wednesday 6.1.2022
Tuesday 5.31.2022
Monday 5.30.2022
Sunday 5.29.2022
Postscript
Author Naomi Wolf said in a recent interview that “there are 10 steps to fascism that leaders who want to crush a democracy will always take.” Recall the definition of facism used by Hitler’s ally and fascist leader of Italy, Benito Mussolini. Then realize that those who desire the autocratic fascist end that Wolf and others that span the left-right divide are warning against has advanced in many cases through deception. After all, what people want to freely surrender their liberties, hopes, and dreams in life?
To advance a slippery agenda, MHProNews has several times made the point that some in business, the nonprofit world, or politics have made paltering an art form. They posture support for something, or they posture some attack on something else. Wolf said in that interview that bullets aren’t necessarily flying, but that the nation is in a new type of war. “This is a new kind of war, and it’s a war that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has developed very skillfully. Stalinists also developed it skillfully.” Beria was a Stalinist. Wolf ripped the loss of civil liberties under the Bush 43 Administration, and now she is condemning the losses and risks to liberty under the Biden regime.
There are times when in the background, there are facts that make it clear that the claims made by business, nonprofit, or political leaders are lip service or window dressing. They are designed to get us to swallow something that would be rejected outright if the facts were honestly presented. If you are among those who listen or read a political, nonprofit, or business leaders’ words with skepticism, according to the Edelman prior poll result below, you are in good company.
While terms like “spin,” “paltering,” “Iron Triangle,” “Kabuki Theater,” “sabotaging monopolies” or the like paint sometimes vivid if troubling descriptions of how our Constitutional Republic has been steadily eroded during much of the 20th and early 21st centuries, even if weakened, the fact remains that we still have the Constitution and its Bill of Rights.
When some recent surveys say that 75 percent or more of the nation think that the U.S. is on ‘the wrong track,’ that’s a silver lining to dark times. But in the ideal, the upcoming midterms should be about more than just ejecting enough Democrats from Congress to give Republicans a check on their spending and legislation that have rapidly eroded the economic and foreign policy advances made during the 4 years President Trump occupied the Oval Office. Millions have come to realize that they didn’t have to like Trump’s tweets or personality in order to like his policies and how they tended to benefit everyday Americans. As he is won’t to do, he summarized his notions with the simple phrases, “America First” and “Americans First.”
The government can only ‘give’ what it first takes. Government can seemingly ‘give’ people enough food, shelter, transportation or health care at first to create the illusion that they can ‘give’ something for nothing. But it is always just that, an illusion. The illusion of something for nothing routinely involves a tradeoff. That tradeoff is often tantamount to vote buying.
America’s founders understood the importance of faith in the public square. Without sincerely held religious beliefs that people act upon, achieving a just society is demonstrably unlikely. It was Judeo-Christian values that inspired our society to abolish slavery, give minorities and women the vote, and did so despite the fact that to this day women’s and minority rights are far from guaranteed in numerous nations around the world.
Human history has long been a tale of this or that group trying to dominating or rule a different group, nation(s), etc.
The Ten Commandments are still the simplest and perhaps most profound set of principles necessary for a just society. Commandments and laws alone will not make people ‘good.’ If Stossel is correct and there are 300,000 federal laws, that only serves to prove that even that mountain of pages doesn’t keep people from intentionally or accidentally crossing ‘legal’ lines. Complexity hasn’t safeguarded our rights, but simplicity can do a far better job.
Citizens should have the minimum laws, regulations, and taxation, needed to maintain Constitutionally guaranteed rights, order, and justice. Americans have learned, and millions more are learning, that the surveillance society and technocratic experts that has arisen in the intersection between big business and big government doesn’t make the citizenry economically, physically, or politically safer.
As often as possible, we need to elect lawmakers that grasp the true meaning of our God given and Constitutionally protected rights. They should protect our rights and hold the powerful in check and to account. It isn’t “Establishment Democrats” or “Establishment Republicans” that are needed. Rather, it is those who authentically favor putting the interests of Americans first.
By learning the lessons of history, by practicing the principles of faith, the opportunity to correct what has gone wrong in our society increases. A combination of understanding, prayer, and prudent action can yield an American Renaissance. More on that in the days ahead. ##
Again, our thanks to you, our sources, and sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
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