“The Bill of Rights is one of the greatest documents of freedom ever devised by human experience”

Benjamin Hooks

Americans are fed up with crime and violence.  In a recent opinion poll, 53% of the respondents listed them as their chief concerns.

This growing anger among the citizenry has provided impetus for the much ballyhooed omnibus crime bill now in Congress.  With a price tag in the billions, this legislation is another step toward federalizing our society and attempting to convince us the government is our only salvation.

Unfortunately, most of the provisions of the President’s bill deal only with the results of crime.  Sorely lacking are realistic programs to modify antisocial behavior before it spills over and injures others.

Meanwhile, half a world away American, Michael Fay, faces a brutal punishment unless the Singapore government relents and shows some mercy.  Many Americans applaud Fay’s punishment as an exemplarity method of disciplining vandals.  Whether this type of Old Testament retribution provides any sort of effective deterrent seems to be irrelevant.  For its advocates, caning is clearly “feel good” justice.

Still, the public’s frustration and rage is understandable.  Fear and chaos, once reserved for inner city ghettos have now become and equal opportunity threats, targeting urban, suburban and rural areas alike.  Sections of many cities now resemble Sarajevo.  Residents are effectively held hostage in their homes by roving gangs of young thugs and other social misfits.  Even behind locked doors, stray bullets take their tragic toll.

Reeling from last summer’s unprecedented violence, the Chicago Housing Authority granted police broad powers to conduct random sweeps and warrantless searches of the city’s public housing projects to locate and confiscate drugs and guns.  Many project tenants support these aggressive efforts, preferring the inconvenience and personal

intrusions as a lesser evil to the daily gun fire which pales Wyatt Earp’s Dodge City by comparison.

While Mayor Daley lobbied, “We are trying to get the guns and drugs out of public housing“, U.S. District Judge Wayne Anderson ruled, warrantless searches, without probable cause, violate constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure.  In his wisdom, he understood, “the erosion of rights” of any group, or even a single individual, “will ultimately undermine the rights of each of us.”

Even President Clinton, who two weeks ago lauded the program, backed off only a week later.  His most recent statement now suggests any such programs must meet constitutional muster.

Clearly, the type of authoritarian solutions being advocated by large segments of the public may have immediate, if only perceptual, effects on violent crime and will undoubtedly remove some number of guns from the hands of vicious gang members and other dangerous human predators.

But, at what price?

Before surrendering any more of the Bill of Rights, consider life-styles in other large/industrialized countries where crime has been little more than a nuisance.  Today, many Russians are fed up with crime in their streets and long of the “good old days” under the benevolence of Uncle Joe.  Chairman Mao’s successors thirst for the days when the China was all but void of crime, as well as dissent.  In Mussolini’s Italy crime was low and the trains ran on time. 

Under each regime, the streets were safe … but the people weren’t!

Our democracy is an imperfect and cumbersome system, particularly when dealing with complex societal problems such a crime.  But, our unswerving preservation of basic liberties protects our right to publicly debate this and other controversial issues … and made America the beacon toward which people seeking freedom and opportunity continue to flock.

Perhaps we simply don’t appreciate what we have!

A better, and more challenging, solution to reestablishing social order in America lies in individuals and their institutions assuming personal responsibility for securing the necessary changes.

  • Parents must eschew the gratuitous violence which permeates television and the movies and which now shapes too many children’s lives.  They must also reassert active authority over their children’s upbringing.
  • Religious institutions must again become relevant in a contemporary society and partner with parents in engendering a moral ethos toward which young people will gravitate.
  • Schools must teach a balanced appreciation of our nation’s history, the unique rights enjoyed by our citizens and the opportunities open to all who accept their challenges.
  • Politicians, rather than lobbying for more governmental control over our lives, should try to become civic leaders.
  • Finally, children must learn life is not based on instant gratification … and things worth having, including liberty, demand hard work and eternal vigilance.

Ben Franklin had it right, “Those who give a little liberty to gain a little security, deserve neither!“