We are becoming a nation of sqealers

Have you ever considered to what extent this nation has become a nation of squealers?

Let me clarify: There are two basic kinds of laws in this world, laws that address things we know truly are wrong in and of themselves. I believe it is called mala en se in Latin. Then there’s the whole ridiculous mountain of crap that first was fostered in the mind of government bureaucrats both large and small. This category of “law” known as mala prohibita describes all the petty regulations that someone somewhere just decided is wrong.

Speed limits are mala prohibita. Tax laws are mala prohibita. Fish and wildlife laws are mala prohibita.

Now…lest someone’s tender sensitivities are offended, let me further clarify that I am not suggesting that there is no value to found in any of the myriad of petty regulations encircling us, stifling us, enslaving us. Au contraire…I think some tiny amount of it has a place. I think there ought to be an established deer hunting season, and limits on how many fish to catch. But for violating these laws I strongly believe that the response should NOT be to seize your truck, or your boat.

Is my reader aware that RICO statutes (originally designed to address organized crime) have been extended to include the guy who kills a deer out of season – allowing the gubmint thieves to steal, under color of law, his truck and gun? That’s right, the woods are full of deer to such extent that they constitute a safety problem for drivers in many states, but kill one on the wrong date and you could lose your $25,000 truck and your $1,000 rifle!

Where’s Robin Hood when you need him? I seem to recall he had some problems derived from killing the King’s deer.

My oldest son and I were on a hunting club yesterday for the purpose to scouting the property and selecting some locations for further more detailed attention. The heat, the mosquitoes, and the river being out of its banks forced us to put aside our primary agenda. Instead we elected to do some shooting at a spot the club manager had told me was suitable for such pursuits.

Shortly after we started shooting a guy drove up and got out of his car. He was shoeless and shirtless and clearly unarmed and unprepared to do anything other than converse. About two seconds after he opened his mouth I found he was unprepared for serious conversation as well. I had before me a prime specimen of Snitchus Americanus. Even though the fool had come through a locked gate to be here, it apparently didn’t dawn on him that I too had come through a locked gate, thus providing evidence of my bona fides to be here.

“I’m a member of XXX hunting club.” Says I

“Oh ...okay…well I caught someone in here last week who was hunting turkeys out of season, and I called Fish & Game, but they were gone by the time the officer arrived” says the snitch.

I am sure that the gubmint agents wearing F&W uniforms in that region are pleased to know that they have an unpaid and willing informant on ready-standby to help funnel new "suspects" into the state’s “justice” machine.

Without revealing my disgust at such behavior, I engaged in the obligatory small talk necessary for Snitch to determine that I was no threat to the King’s deer, and then be on his way. But I’ve marked him as the squealer he is, and I’ll be on the lookout for him in the future.

This is the kind of behavior that will be prized and doubtlessly rewarded under the current socialist regime. Just as the Stalin and Mao regimes encouraged neighbor to rat out neighbor, and children to rat out parents, so our citizens are barraged with prompts both subtle and not so subtle to turn in their fellow citizens for infractions of mala prohibita. After all, as Boston Tea Party maintains, “the state needs bodies”. And if there was no more crime, what would all those law enforcement and justice officials do for a paycheck?