I’m allocating today to other things, but before I go, have two pictures that follow the thread of my more recent tirades here. The first is from the United States Code, by way of A Nod To The Gods: (Click for a more easily readable version.)
The second is somewhat more direct. I swiped it from David De Gerolamo:
Have a nice day.
A city council, or a mayor, or a governor can decide to mandate mask wearing, arbitrarily close businesses, or forbid people from freely assembling. They can impose fines or even arrest and jail time for offenders. Is it constitutional? No. But what does the constitution matter when a city council passes an ordinance, and the police department obeys the order to enforce it? Maybe you saw the horseback mounted cops at Huntington Beach CA standing in a tight line, and forbidding citizens from walking on the beach. That beach remains closed to the public.
ReplyDeleteJoe Citizen may be within his constitutional rights to defy the law. If he does, he'll get his ass kicked, hauled off to jail, and fined thousands of dollars.
Of course, Poor Joe Citizen has the right to challenge the law in court. But this is after he's been beaten, arrested, and fined. All poor Joe needs now is the money, and time to mount a constitutional level challenge to an unconstitutional law. The city, or the state, or the feds have lots of lawyers and endless tax funded resources. Joe Citizen has his rights, and a depleted bank account.
Short version. Our "rights" are no longer worth the parchment they were written on.
JWM