Big Brother Wants To Watch

Never being known for being soft on crime, Texas is starting to get scary. The police chief in Houston has come up with one of those crackpot ideas that reveals how much of his perspective he's lost.

It's no secret that "law enforcement" tends to attract authoritarian types. But this is ridiculous. Somewhere, George Orwell is shaking his head.

If Houston really is experiencing a shortage of police officers, perhaps they should do what the rest of us do -- at least, the intelligent ones -- when faced with a shortage of resources: prioritize! Perhaps some of the "crimes" that they're enforcing laws against shouldn't be crimes at all.

How many "crimes" involve no victim? Or no real wrong-doing? Remember: so long as what you do does not deprive another of the right to life, liberty, or property, the government shouldn't be involved.

Then again, as Ayn Rand wrote:

There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted -- and you create a nation of law-breakers -- and then you cash in on guilt.

And maybe -- just maybe -- Houston's police officers spread a little thin because they're all wasting too much too much time in thought control "sensitivity training" classes and filling out duplicative and useless paperwork.

Hizzoner the Mayor claims not to have spoken with the chief about this "idea", but does concede that it's "more of a 'brainstorm' than a 'decision'".

More like a brain fart.