A few years back I remarked that the average respectable middle class male had committed hundreds of felonies, each worth many years jail time. Things have become worse since then:
The Silicon Greybeard reminds us:
Where were you when owning wood became a felony?
…
Looking around my house, not one piece of wooden furniture – either the ones I built or the ones I bought – has a label telling the genus and species it came from along with the country of origin. Certainly the toothpicks and knife handles don’t. I see perhaps 2 dozen felonies within eye shot.
…
… we will phase in enforcement of the declaration requirements for additional chapters containing plants and plant products covered by the Lacey Act, including (but not limited to) Ch. 12 (oil seeds, misc. grain, seed, fruit, plant, etc.), Ch. 13 (gums, lacs, resins, vegetable saps, extracts, etc.), [vegetable saps and extracts? like olive oil, maple syrup? – gb] Ch. 14 (vegetable plaiting materials and products not elsewhere specified or included), [the wildcard so they can arrest you for anything – gb] Ch. 45 (cork and articles of), Ch. 46 (basket ware and wickerwork), Ch. 66 (umbrellas, walking sticks, riding crops), Ch. 82 (tools), Ch. 93 (guns), Ch. 95 (toys, games and sporting equipment), Ch. 96 (brooms, pencils, and buttons), and Ch. 97 (works of art). …
…
… anyone who exports, transports, sells, receives, acquires or purchases such products in the United States, may be prosecuted.
Of course, this is primarily applied against businesses, because businesses have more money lying around to steal.
Are you wondering why the economy has not recovered?
One day, the internet will run out of evidence that the system is irredeemably broken.
Until then I’ll apparently be surprised, every time, at how anyone can take politics seriously.
Also, since the laws and what people get prosecuted for have at most a passing relation, I’m surprised they bother passing laws at all. Maybe it’s a hobby. It’s already entirely unnecessary to make political prisoners in the west. Everyone can be prosecuted under entirely ‘legitimate’ laws if they step out of line.
Which is again surprising; shouldn’t blogs like this have gotten shut down a long time ago? In fact, so-called political freedoms are still better here than just about everywhere else. That’s…well, I certainly can’t explain it.
The rulers ideology and legitimacy rests on benevolence and democracy. Were they to be too forceful in discouraging those that disagree with them, this would contradict their self image. Loss of this image would also result in them becoming dependent upon the police and the army, whom they do not much like. Democracy is the myth of the state, as once the legitimacy of Kings was. Without a myth, any myth, things can get unpleasant.
I suppose I do need a better model of what the rulers want. They can’t discourage dissent for the reasons you list – but they should be able to use this surfeit of ‘law’ to effectively hide crackdowns on particular dissenters. I thought they’d do that from time to time just for pure ego satisfaction, but perhaps they don’t dare, or perhaps I for once overestimate the gullibility of the public.
This blog is hosted in Singapore. I am a citizen of more than one country and not easy to find. I did not adopt this lifestyle for political reasons, nor even choose this hosting service for political reasons, but had I not adopted this lifestyle, might have been less conspicuously political.
They do use such laws to crack down on political dissenters. The guitar business had republican management. In race and sex discrimination cases, the political views of management and employees are treated as decisive evidence of wrong doing, making it demonstrably dangerous for management to hire people with detectably incorrect politics.
I’m glad my predictions aren’t entirely unsound.
Moldbug’s blog isn’t immune like that, though.
Actually come to think similar blogs do disappear from time to time. Mangan’s. TJIC did something anyway. Sixteenvolts. And the only reason it didn’t accelerate is because it hasn’t been working out.