Freedom-Fighters Forum

The Constitutional Broadside

V1 N2 A PUBLICATION OF THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY COUNCIL
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

PROBLEM

What are the causes and possible solutions to crime and riots in America today?

MAJOR CAUSES OF CRIME IN AMERICA

1. JUDICIAL LENIENCY A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR

Among the elements in American Life which have contributed to the growth of crime, one of the most obvious and immediate is judicial leniency. This has long been true in the case of juvenile offenders. It is becoming increasingly true in gather case of adults.

The Supreme Court has issued a long series of decisions weighing the scales of justice heavily in favor of criminal defendants and against society.

These decisions have caused the release of hardened criminals to prey on innocent citizens.

2. REPEATERS ARE THE CHIEF SOURCE OF CRIME IN AMERICA

The researches of the F.B.I. disclose that…repeaters are the chief source of crime in America. The Uniform Crime Report says: “For the 92,869 offenders processed in 1963 and 1964, 76 percent were repeaters; that is, they had previously been arrested on some charge…Leniency in the form of probation, suspended sentence, parole and conditional release had been afforded to 51 percent of the offenders. After the first leniency the group averaged three new arrests.”

In other words, three-quarters of the crimes recorded in these two years were committed by people who had already been in the clutches of the law and got free; and more than one half were committed by people who had been let off from their appointed sentence. Our crime rate for these years could have been cut in half merely by requiring criminals already convicted to serve out their time.

The F.B.I. comments…The average criminal career ..and the average number of arrests for these repeaters disclose the high volume of offenses being committed by a relatively small criminal population. The Lawbreakers by M. Stanton Evans and Margaret Moore, Arlington House, is the source of the above material.

MAJOR CAUSES OF RIOTS IN AMERICA

1. INNOCENT NEGROES SACRIFICED TO CREATE RACE WAR AND REVOLUTION

Charles E. Smith, a Negro constitutionalist, edits the Voice of Watts in Los Angeles, Calif. In the August 1969 issue he writes, “The Negro Leaders are the real enemies of the Negro people…They are preventing the Negro people from pursuing their destinies as individuals because they place every conceivable barrier in their path. The Leaders and the Militants are two parts of the same movement.

“They complement each other. The “Respectable Leaders” make demands and tell us that if these demands are not met, the extremists will profit by it…The Nixon Administration is being black-mailed by the “Responsible Negro Leaders”: You adopt our program or else!!

“And what are Black Militant Negro Leaders demanding? A separate Black State and they are willing to sacrifice large numbers of innocence Negroes in a Race War or revolution to get it.

“And so it is clear that the Negro Leaders at the top and at the bottom are part of our domestic enemy, and are carrying out the enemy’s destructive program for him.”

2. FOR DECADES, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS MADE WAR ON THE POOR

“The Battle in the Streets is an omen, a sign, a portent, and it must be interpreted as such. It is a dramatic presentation for all of us to see of what is wrong with the programs the government has employed. The rioters are following the lesson plan learned from the government; they have learned the lesson well and are now applying it. For decades, government has made war on the poor with programs what were supposed to benefit them. It has sanctioned the use of force to achieve what would otherwise be economic ends. It has penalized production of farm products, fostered union organization and tactics, taken by force from those who produce to give to those who do not. The government, by example, has taught that the way to prosperity is to avoid the requirements of economy, to spend rather than to save, to destroy rather than to produce. It has taught, by its actions, that those who save, invest, build, produce, provide jobs, offer services are dangerous antagonists, if not outright enemies, of society. On the other hand, it has taught that those who do nothing worthwhile, who roam the streets and parks, who malinger or plan demonstrations to force concessions, are objects for special consideration and solicitude. Government has said, by way of its programs, that the way to improve life in the cities is to demolish the buildings and make the earth bare.” (from THE WAR ON THE POOR, by Clarence B. Carson, Arlington House.) This book is must reading for everyone interested in preserving our liberty.

3. AMERICA’S PEACETIME SECURITY DEFENSES STRUCK DOWN BY SUPREME COURT

The battering down of America’s peacetime security defenses by the Supreme Court took such a toll that the listing of only a few of the Communist victories will demonstrate why their party leaders are so jubilant. Victories for Communism have included: (1) Striking down the law requiring Communists to register as foreign agents. (2) Striking down the law subjecting alien Communists to deportation. (3) Striking down the law prohibiting Communists from serving as labor union officials. (4) Striking down the law restricting the flow of Communist propaganda through the mails at public expense. (5) Striking down the law prohibiting Communists from teaching in the schools. (6) Striking down the law requiring teachers to certify by oath that they will support the Constitution of the United States and that they do not belong to an organization seeking to overthrow the government by violence. (7) Striking down the law prohibiting American Communists from traveling abroad on United States passports.

By 1961 the Communist leadership felt so elated that they dared to distribute a manual on the provoking and directing of mobs and riots in the streets of American cities. The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee issued a special warning that the Communists were apparently planning a wave of violence during the next several years. Today that prediction has become a brutal reality. (Adapted from the Introduction to COMMUNIST REVOLUTION OI NTE STREETS by Gary Allen, Western Islands)

KEEPING THE PEACE

1. KEEPING THE PEACE A PROPER FUNCTION OF GOVERNMENT

The proper function of government, when the people are sovereign as they are under the United States Constitution, is keeping the peace. Keeping the peace requires protection from aggression by other nations. This requires armed forces adequate to repel invasion.

Keeping the peace also requires a police force and courts to protect the citizen against other citizens who insist on engaging in destructive actions such as violence, fraud, predation and misrepresentation. In other words, “Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not lie; Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not covet.”

Under the United States Constitution the police and courts are also there for the protection of the individual citizen against any unconstitutional action of those citizens employed by government.

2. SOCIAL REFORMERS ARE AGITATORS, NOT PEACEMAKERS

Most Americans wonder why crime and riots are so prevalent. One of the answers most Americans would never think of today is found in the following explanation made by Leonard E. Read, President of The foundation for Economic Education Inc.

“Where lies this fault? A good part of the blame rests on the electorate which has put SOCIAL REFORMERS into Federal, state and local government office.

“Keeping the peace is the highly specialized task of government, and social reformers are peculiarly unqualified to perform this function; they are AGITATORS, not peacemakers. When it comes to keeping the peace, social reformers are misfits—deplorable failures!

“With some notable exceptions, we are electing reformers to city councils, state legislatures, the Congress, and to top administrative posts. This being the case, is it any wonder that rioters go unrestrained? The mobsters are among clients of these agitators for change! This explains why every now and then, policemen are observed helping mobsters carry off their loot; they are acting sometimes under direct orders and all too often in a manner consistent with the avowed policies of the social reformers.

3. HOW TO TELL IF A CANDIDATE IS A SOCIAL REFORMER

“Now, how can we tell whether a candidate for public office is a social reformer? By simply listening to his platform, the things he intends to do if elected.

“If a candidate so much as mentions what he is going to do for some group or class or minority or locality with other people’s (tax) money, that is, if he proposes to feather nests of some at the expense of others, he must be classified as a social reformer, and an unprincipled one, at that. These reformers promise to do good things, not voluntarily with fruits of their own labor, but through the use of coercion: they rely on the force of government to achieve their ends; they coercively expropriate the fruits of your labor and mine to their “good.”

4. VOTERS WHO WANT SOMETHING FOR NOTHING AT FAULT

“Let me explicit: I am not pointing the finger of blame at these politically-oriented reformers who would apply coercion. They are exceedingly honest with the voters; they eloquently boast of what they intend to do. They compete, after a fashion, to decide which of them can do the most for us with our money! They surely deserve applause for their honestly. Naive voters, taken in by this nonsense, are the ones at fault. They are fascinated by the prospects of “social gains” and greatly disappointed when those who promise such gain fail to keep the peace!

5. ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTIC OF GOVERNMENT IS ORGANIZED FORCE

“..Any change for the better must originate in the mind of voters. They must have a more realistic appreciation of the nature of government. To know the nature of government is the first step in knowing WHAT NOT TO ASK OF IT.

“The essential characteristic of government is ORGANIZED FORCE! Reflect on what organized force can do. It can inhibit, prohibit, penalize, restrain, suppress. ORGANIZED FORCE cannot be an agency for creativity. Creativity is spiritual; discovery, invention, intuition, inquisitiveness, insight” (from Notes from FEE, Sept..1968)

CRIME PREVENTION THROUGH VOLUNTARY HELP

1. INDIANAPOLIS, IND. ANTI-CRIME CRUSADE

In 1962 an elderly woman was brutally slain by a teen-age purse snatcher in Indianapolis, Indiana. This sparked a meeting of 30 women or organized the Anti-Crime Crusade to make Indianapolis “streets safe for women.”

From that tiny beginning the Crusade has grown until there are 50,000 women involved on a voluntary basis. The Anti-Crime Crusade has, from the beginning, stressed local, voluntary, self-help. The Federal government has not been invited to participate at any time and, in fact, has been prevented from interfering.

The Crusade has served in many and varied ways to make Indianapolis a safer place to live and to upgrade the education of citizens of the city. Some statements from leading city officials will indicate a few of the things that this Crusade has accomplished.

Mayor John J. Barton: “Women of the Anti-Crime Crusade have been a driving force in keeping the crime rate down, and in helping to establish a sense of responsibility among citizens throughout the city of Indianapolis. Public officials welcome their help; their cooperation in programs of crime prevention and law enforcement and their consistent efforts to make our city a better place to live.”

2. COURT WATCHERS MAKE EVALUATION OF JUDGES

Judge William T. Sharp, Municipal Court No. 4: “Work of the court watchers has provided the only evaluation a judge gets. Their reports shake everybody up and make us analyze our decisions. As for women, court watching makes them better citizens. They know better how to deal with community problems.”

Judge Saul I. Rabb, Criminal court II: “If the women of the Anti-Crime Crusade had done nothing more than sit in court day after day for five years, their work would have been invaluable. To have that many women informed about the courts, to take an interest in what is going on in the judicial system, is an asset which few areas of the United States can claim. But their work has gone much further. The women have accomplished wonders in our city, and the best part of this is that they continue to work in more than a dozen areas of crime prevention and law enforcement.”

3. TEACHING LAWS FOR JUVENILES IN CLASSROOM AN EXCELLENT IDEA

Judge Harold N. Fields, Marion county Juvenile Court: “Teaching laws for juveniles in the classroom is an excellent idea, and no doubt one that will be copied across the nation. There is such a great need to teach children the importance of responsibility. I see them day after day—very young boys and girls and teenagers—in trouble because they have not had home training in how to live. Some parents let children learn law on the street, a trouble begins right there. The Anti-Crime Crusade can, within reasonable time, prevent many juveniles from getting into trouble.”

4. COMMUNITY RECEIVES KIND OF CRIME PROTECTION IT PAYS FOR

Police chief Daniel T. Veza: “I don’t know how any police department can be successful in fighting crime without the help of such citizens as the women of the Anti-Crime Crusade. Now that they have worked with us so long, I don’t know what we did without them. The women believe that—”A community gets precisely the amount and kind of law enforcement that it’s willing to support; crime will decrease when a community acts..crime will continue as long as a community condones it.” With support like that—citizens who cooperate with us day after day—police certainly do a better job.”

5. EDUCATING JUVENILES HELPS PREVENT ADULT CRIME

The Anti-Crime Crusade set up a series of lectures by prominent law enforcement officials to speak to young people. One of those who spoke was Inspector Edward L. Kemper of the F.B.I. When asked by a teenager, “What can we do to help?” In the cause of law enforcement, Kemper told them,

“The answer is..Go Home!”

“Hang the storm windows. Paint the woodwork, Rake the leaves. Mow the lawn. Shovel the walk. Wash the car. Learn to cook. Scrub the floors. Repair the sink. Build a boat. Get a job.

“Help your church, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army. Visit the sick. Assist the poor. Study your lessons. And then, when you are through—and not too tired—read a book.

“Your parents do not owe you entertainment. Your village does not owe you recreation facilities. The world does not owe you a living. You owe the world something. You owe it your time, and energy, and your talents so that no one will be at war or in poverty, or sick or lonely again.

“In plain, simple words, grow up. Quit being a crybaby. Get out of your dream world. Develop a backbone, not a wishbone. Start acting like a man or a lady.

“I’m a parent. I’m tired of nursing, protecting, helping, appealing, begging, excusing, tolerating, denying myself needed comforts for every whim and fancy, just because your selfish ego instead of common sense dominates your personality…”

6. AS A DIRECT RESULT OF INSPECTOR KEMPER’S SPEECH

concerned teenagers in Indianapolis, working with the Anti-Crime Crusade, decided to find a way to get more juveniles involved in volunteer work. Guided by the director of personnel training at the American Fletcher National Bank, high school pupils from metropolitan Indianapolis attended the first youth division meeting early in 1963—and came up with the following affirmations:

“1) We want discipline and law enforcement. We respect parents who have rules and we respect officials who enforce the law.

“2) We need to stand up for decisions of judges. We can’t have order in our city if we gripe. ‘The judge shouldn’t have sentenced that poor guy who broke the law.’

“3) We’ve got to get word to all young people about the importance of high school graduation…

“4) If anybody destroys property, he should be assigned work like washing or painting walls he has marred or rebuilding what he has destroyed.

“5) We need more vocational training and more direct leads to employment for many young people. We can help by conferring with adults we know.

“6) Even though young people may have many problems at home, there are ways for them to rise above these situations. They need not get into trouble.

“7) We would like to serve as youth council for the Sheriff and Police Department—to point out the problems we see and possible solutions.”

From THE LAWBREAKERS by M. Staton Evans and Margaret Moore, Arlington House. Should read book for many excellent Ideas.