Rule of Law is eroding. The Rule of Law has become ridiculous in so many places. A town near me has outlawed confetti. Only criminals have confetti there. Another town outlaws whistles.
Trump calls “collusion” a witch hunt. And it is. Collusion is not illegal except under anti-trust laws, like organized crime, when they plot to commit crime. No one thinks these guys were selling drugs, sex, or guns. The issue is whether or not the Trump campaign was recruited by foreign nationals and traded information for the purpose of influencing the campaign. And even then the foreign nationals are the ones who broke the laws unless Americans actually did some spying on behalf of the Russians.
Consider what spying is, though. Passing them information. Doesn’t really matter what information. The information itself has nothing to do with whether or not spying is a crime. The crime is probably “Aiding and Abetting” while the Russians committed fraud. But it also fits the definition of Treason. That is how the police work, they can charge you with treason and talk about the death penalty in order to get you to tell what you know under immunity.
For those of you who are not interested in the legalities of things skip this paragraph: Aiding and abetting Title 18 USC 2 is a crime that probably could stick in court if information was traded. Conspiracy (18 USC 371) is notoriously harder to prove. Unless they have recordings and several witnesses this one won’t stick. But it could if the charge is specific, like that they talked long and hard about what lies to spread (fraud) on the Facebook (18 USC 1030), or if they paid for the information or accepted campaign donations (really stupid laws). But the trump card, no pun intended, is 18 USC 2381 because there is no need to have a declared war since 2006 in order to commit the treason of giving “aid and comfort” to our enemies
And we are asked to consider if the President is above the law, not how stupid the law is to begin with.
The laws on the books are so frigging stupid judges have to let lots of them slide. For example a “controlled substance” requires a prescription, and if that prescription is expired or doesn’t belong to you and the substance is in your medicine cabinet is illegal possession of a controlled substance, one year and $1000, but if you have been convicted of a previous drug crime that is 5 years and $5000.
We all know that even if cannabis is “decriminalized” in our states it is still illegal federally. And although you can make beer or wine in your home quite legally, even share it with friends (no sales of course) if you have a distillery that is 10 years and $10,000, and just having illegally distilled liquor is 5 years and $5,000.
It is certainly not just drugs, but look at traffic laws. Everyone who has ever driven is guilty. Permits are required to work on your own home. Copyright laws if you have sung songs or copied them. Peeing outside, using someone else’s wireless signal, jaywalking, litter, marker or paint in public, throwing away someone else’s mail…
Then look at Title 8 Immigration Law. There is no possible way around an expired visa, which is called Amnesty. So judges have become more and more lenient for the past 30 years by-passing the law by using the idea of more and more unlikely dangers immigrants are forced to leave as the law requires. That way the strict requirement of the laws are null and void.
I can go on with examples, but the erosion of our system is the result. No one seriously considers these laws should be enforced. So how do we choose which ones to enforce?
It often becomes a partisan issue. We want our candidate to pass while the politicians who are on the other side are clearly criminals. Police can arrest you for you the shoes you wear while driving if they want. If you are approached by police and they think they will be reasonable to you, well, you must be white.
To salvage the rule of law we must repeal stupid laws.