Balko: Rand Paul is right that seemingly innocuous laws are enforced with violence

[Inkblots]

I've seen some liberals sniping at Rand for pointing out Eric Garner would be alive today if not for New York's nanny-state cigarette tax regime. There's no more credible voice in the fight against police brutality than that of Radley Balko, so I was glad to see him push back against those critics on his blog today:

Even seemingly innocuous laws are enforced with violence

Sen. Rand Paul took some heat this week for pointing out that Eric Garner was essentially executed for selling untaxed cigarettes. I’m not sure why this is a controversial thing to say (especially since Paul also explicitly said the video itself was “horrifying”). Every law, no matter how seemingly innocuous, is enforced with the threat of violence: If you fail to follow it, the state is saying it reserves the right to use violence to force you to comply and/or force you to submit to a penalty for violating the law. Every law passed also creates more opportunities for interaction with police officers, the people entrusted to use the violence necessary to enforce the laws. How a proposed law will be enforced, and potentially abused, ought to be considered in addition to the content of the law itself.
[...]

Now, I doubt that New York city council anticipated that failure to comply with this particular law would result in a man’s death, any more than legislators in Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina, or Florida anticipated that seat belt enforcement could end in tasings, shootings, or arrests. But you enforce the laws with the police institutions you have, not the police institutions you want. Low-level offenses are a tool police sometimes use to do sweeps for outstanding warrants, or as part of a “broken windows” strategy of law enforcement. These are tactics overwhelmingly deployed on low-income and minority communities.
[...]

It may be that the lives saved by seat belt laws and cigarette taxes are well worth the added police-citizen interactions needed to enforce them, and any incidents that might occur during those interactions. But I don’t see the harm in pointing out that these laws will result in more such interactions, or in pointing out which communities are likely to be on the receiving end of most of them.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/t...n-eric-garner/

[torchbearer]

Thanks for sharing!

[FSP-Rebel]

"The Five" are talking about Rand's comments right now and it's the lone liberal on there that is the one that is hating on him "trying to deflect this on taxes". Rand is making the rounds even when he's not there.

[Libertea Party]

There are parallels with Mohamed Bouazizi tragedy in Tunisia that launched the Arab Spring revolution. Rand Paul could talk about this. What you have is the state's ability to be recklessly violent becoming exposed and directed toward the most marginalized of populations. Whether it's unevenness in drug laws or other petty social/economic regulations... these nonviolent "crimes" often wind up ensnaring powerless minorities (minority in the sense of social/economic not necessarily racial).

This comment by Bouazizi's brother is powerful and instructive here:

We asked Salem, one of Bouazizi’s brothers, what his brother in heaven might have hoped his sacrifice would bring to the Arab world. Salem did not hesitate: "That the poor also have the right to buy and sell."

The relationship between awful incidents like this and the overreach of government is something Rand Paul should continue discussing... and academics like Balko should continue to explore further.

[Brian4Liberty]

I’m not sure why this is a controversial thing to say (especially since Paul also explicitly said the video itself was “horrifying”).*

Yeah, the leftists are taking just the tax part out of context. Jon Stewart did it on The Daily Show today. Stewart has been particularly disingenuous, hypocritical and pathetic the last couple of weeks.

[Libertea Party]

There are parallels with Mohamed Bouazizi tragedy in Tunisia that launched the Arab Spring revolution. Rand Paul could talk about this. What you have is the state's ability to be recklessly violent becoming exposed and directed toward the most marginalized of populations. Whether it's unevenness in drug laws or other petty social/economic regulations... these nonviolent "crimes" often wind up ensnaring powerless minorities (minority in the sense of social/economic not necessarily racial).

This comment by Bouazizi's brother is powerful and instructive here:

We asked Salem, one of Bouazizi’s brothers, what his brother in heaven might have hoped his sacrifice would bring to the Arab world. Salem did not hesitate: "That the poor also have the right to buy and sell."

The relationship between awful incidents like this and the overreach of government is something Rand Paul should continue discussing... and academics like Balko should continue to explore further.

Looks like the Executive VP of Cato...David Boaz jumped onto Bouazizi perspective. It would be nice if my posts were the inspiration!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...lumn/19948609/