Democracy frustrates the left.
Voters — who evidently don’t know what’s good for them — continue to elect Republicans who refuse to do what Democrats tell them to do.
Social justice warriors in a hurry then bend the arc of history backward and adopt tactics from the authoritarian model of government and issue edicts that bypass the recalcitrant legislative branch.
The result is the “broken windows” theory of public disorder now manifests itself in government.
“Broken windows” originated in criminology to explain the progression of urban decay and lawlessness. Vandals break a window or smear a building with graffiti.
If nothing is done, more vandalism and disorder follows. The message to the borderline criminal and out–and–out criminal is that no one in a position of power cares to arrest the decline, therefore the decline continues.
We see the same phenomenon in government. Obama makes “recess appointments” when Congress isn’t in recess. He essentially legalizes illegal aliens and rewrites Obamacare when enforcement would prove politically damaging.
In response Congressional “leadership” squeals and hires a lawyer, the equivalent of the property owner with the graffiti problem hiring a designer to analyze the “art.”
When other borderline authoritarians and out–and–authoritarians see how ineffective Congress has been and the total lack of consequences, they start shaking their paint cans, too.
Wisconsin prosecutors trying to freeze support for Gov. Scott Walker issue “John Doe” warrants which conceal the name of the targeted individual and then obtain injunctions that prohibit targets from talking about the search and seizure.
While the kangaroo investigation continues, it does so under a double layer of secrecy that prevents public scrutiny.
The common theme that runs through the left’s assault on the rule of law is the end justifies any means. (Read more about this
in action here.) And to make sure the ends are met, many times the left acts just prior to a holiday, again reducing public scrutiny and making it more difficult to organize opposition.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is the latest practitioner. During his campaign Herring promised voters “to take politics out of the office and to put the law, and Virginia families, first.”
What Herring meant was he would jettison conservative policies. Only 10 days after taking office he refused to defend Virginia’s marriage law.
Then he undermined recently passed restrictions on abortion and he supported giving in–state tuition to illegal aliens, a policy repeatedly rejected by the legislature.
Now, just before Christmas, Herring announces that Virginia will no longer honor out–of–state concealed handgun permits for 25 states, because the attorney general decided those state’s standards aren’t stringent enough to please him.
Herring announced, “While you are here, you are subject to the commonwealth’s gun laws.” Yet even Washington Post lefties were honest enough to describe Herring’s grandstanding as “part of a national push to circumvent legislatures opposed to tightening gun laws.”
Virginia state elections were last November and voters had a chance to elect a number of pro gun–control candidates and flip the composition of the state senate, but those candidates were rejected. (Details
here.)
So Herring goes Obama on us and issues an order than only penalizes law–abiding gun owners. Concealed weapons tourists aren’t causing a crime wave or even a crime ripple.
In Texas permit holders have about the same crime rate as police officers. According to GunFacts.info, in Florida — one of the states whose permit holders Herring has banned — “you are twice as likely to be attacked by an alligator as by a person with a concealed carry permit.”
What Herring conceals is the hardship his sanctimonious posturing causes won’t be confined to out–of–state permit holders.
The Post points out 420,000 Virginia concealed weapons holders will no longer be allowed to carry a concealed weapon when they visit the states Herring stigmatized.
And to increase the hypocrisy, the standards Herring is so proud of don’t apply to hundreds of thousands of Virginia residents who obtained their five–year permits before the commonwealth’s law was revised.
Herring is simply using his office in an anti–democratic effort to impose an anti–gun philosophy voters have repeatedly rejected.
Currently the legislature is trying to remove Herring’s graffiti. Del. Lee Ware has introduced a unilateral recognition bill that would allow a concealed weapons permit holder from any state to carry in Virginia without Herring’s approval.
Unfortunately, that won’t solve the problem because the governor will undoubtedly veto the bill. Impeachment proceedings would get Herring’s attention, but I doubt the closely–divided senate has the stomach for that kind of fight.
In 2017 Herring runs for re–election. Voters that value honesty and the rule of law will have their chance to remove at least one political vandal.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher (for the League of American Voters), and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.