GOP: Still the Party of Law and Order? [+video]
There is a very dangerous precedent unfolding around the country as it relates to criminal justice.
When approaching criminal justice policy, conservatives have always sought to strike the perfect balance to maximize liberty. The balance is built upon a bifurcated approach of eschewing over-criminalization of trivial matters while being tough as nails on dangerous and harmful criminals who infringe upon the liberties of others.
Unfortunately, there is a growing trend among Republicans – both from libertarians and politically correct establishment types – to pursue wholesale liberalization of our criminal justice system by championing issues pushed by the far Left until recently.
This growing trend among many Republicans is rooted in a legitimate desire to toss out junk laws and avoid over-criminalization. However, some of these well-intended initiatives being pursued in the justifiable lane of “over-crim” are running adrift into the sharp rip current of Obama’s dangerous agenda to undermine our criminal justice system. Ironically, the end result of some of these “liberty” initiatives will result in more tyranny – both from increased federal involvement in local law enforcement and a potentially dangerous increase in criminal activity.
The Baltimore Paradigm
Conservative proponents of “criminal justice reform” must remember that, much like any other policy where they might seemingly share some common ground with this president, joining with Obama on this issue will not end well. There are legitimate proposals to reform some laws pertaining to regulatory issues or non-violent crime, but any effort to make the discussion centered on liberalizing criminal justice laws will invariably lead to the return of “pre-Giuliani” crime days under this president.
Sadly, this dynamic is already playing out in America’s large cities. Just two months after the White House lauded the Baltimore City Police Department for its model of new policing tactics, the Justice Department is now launching a civil rights investigation based on one incident – an incident that clearly had nothing to do with race (three of the cops were black).
Now, the Baltimore police, as I predicted, are so scared to effectively patrol the dangerous parts of the city in the east and western districts, it appears that more criminals are being given “space to destroy.” Baltimore is experiencing its deadliest month for homicides in 15 years. Just over this past Memorial Day weekend for example, 29 people were shot 9 of who were fatally wounded.
This rash of violence in Baltimore comes on the heels of a slew of cop killings around the country. In addition, cops are now having a hard time issuing arrests without emboldened mobs interfering and becoming violent, a dynamic that threatens the very fabric of the rule of law.
Conservative lawmakers must consider this: what is the consummate criminal justice challenge of our time? Is too much being done to combat violent crime throughout the country? Or has Obama created a climate in this country where police departments are returning to a pre-‘90s mentality and are terrified to maintain order and preserve liberty against a growing trend of anarchy?
The Federalization of Law Enforcement
Unfortunately, instead of holding hearings and demanding answers from the Justice Department for their politically motivated and often racist investigations of local police departments without any evidence of systemic abuses, Republicans remain completely silent. Many of them are even giving into Obama’s false premise. By focusing on the police as the primary problem, Republicans are implicitly blessing his agenda to federalize local law enforcement.
House Republican appropriators have just created a “community trust initiative” slush fund in the annual funding bill for the Justice Department, which will be used to funnel $50 million to local police departments for body cameras. While this might sound innocuous or even positive to some people, it is hard to imagine that more federal funding for local police – earmarked for specific political purposes – will not result in further federalization of law enforcement. Strings are always attached to federal funding, especially given the political context.
At a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing on “21st century policing,” Susan Lee Rahr, a member of Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, let the cat out of the bag about the concerted effort on the Left to federalize law enforcement. She lamented the “18,000 different cultures reflecting the policies and practices that are the product of 18,000 local governments serving communities with a diverse range of values and expectations.” Rahr concluded that “outside of Consent Decrees and the distribution or withholding of Federal funds, the influence the Federal Government has on local policing is also limited.”
And that is exactly how things ought to be.
Not Playing into Obama’s Hands
Libertarians and some conservatives might feel passionate about ending mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenses or initiatives to “de-militarize” the police. However, those policy initiatives should be pursued in a propitious political climate with a president who is not bent on using such policies as a platform to dismantle every aspect of our criminal justice system that has led to a swift decline in violent crime in recent years. One can make a strong case for getting rid of some non-violent drug laws as an ends to itself, but it certainly is not the panacea for the current problems with violent crime and Obama’s systematic war on law enforcement.
Nevertheless, instead of engaging in soul-searching about the ubiquitous violence in inner cities and the dangerous intervention of the Justice Department in local affairs that is engendering this disquieting spike in crime, many Republicans are jumping on the far-left bandwagon. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is spewing left-wing platitudes about “disparate impact” and voting rights for felons. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have signed onto a bill sponsored by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), which would create a national criminal justice commission to propose reforms. The problem is that, much like many of their versions of “immigration reform,” any criminal justice reform commission will be staffed with radical leftists who only address the Left’s version of reform. The bill is also co-sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), and Roy Blunt (R-Mo).
Earlier this month, the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in which one liberal activist witness after another berated southern states for not adequately supplying counsel for indigents charged with misdemeanors. One witness was Mark Cady, the Iowa Supreme GOP Justice who wrote the decision mandating homosexual marriage in his state. Did Republicans consider him an expert on the Constitution and federalism? Do they really have nothing better to do when there are so many egregious overreaches by the Justice Departments to investigate?
The systematically racist Justice Department will second-guess every instance in which a police officer is involved in a shooting with a black individual, irrespective of the evidence. Together with their cohorts in the media, they helped foment a growing violent culture of ‘riot first ask questions later,’ which in itself has created an even greater cycle of violence – one that places police officers in untenable situations. The message to law enforcement is reverberating loud and clear: face federal investigations without due process and the presumption of innocence or give criminals space to destroy. Regrettably, many of them will feel they have no choice but to choose the latter.
Despite the growing socio-economic and cultural problems in this country, one of the greatest developments of the past few decades has been the near-miraculous drop in violent crime. While there is no single proven factor behind this precipitous decline, it is hard to doubt the effectiveness of more pro-active policing and stricter sentencing.
Republicans should think long and hard about the consequences of playing Obama’s game on criminal justice, lest they risk reversing these hard fought gains for public safety, which are really gains for individual liberty. There is no greater tyranny than the ubiquitous restriction of movement that invariably comes with rampant anarchy.
As the GOP presidential candidates uniformly rail against the excesses of the federal government and over-regulation of our daily activities, they would be wise to extol the virtues of law enforcement and how it should remain under the auspices of state and local governments. It is part and parcel of a pro-liberty agenda. (See “GOP: Still the Party of Law and Order?”, originally posted HERE)
[Listen to this interview on The Joe Miller Show with the author]
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