Even with all the financial failure that surrounds us, I still find myself loathe to accept any type of government intervention. We throw around comments like “too big to fail” but rarely examine the end game. Greg Swann recently reposted a very intelligent treatise on something he likes to call Rotarian Socialism and how each “fix” only begets a greater problem down the road. As a matter of fact, Mr. Swann and I share a healthy fear of government and the implied force of violence that backstops all regulations and laws.
Earlier this week I followed a story out of Spokane, WA. It centers around a Mr. Kevin Coe, convicted rapist and suspected serial rapist. For the relevant details and background on this story click here. Mr. Coe, however, is not the scary part of this story:
Coe has completed his sentence of 25 years in prison, but he is not getting out of jail yet. Starting tomorrow, Coe faces a civil trial as the state tries to keep him locked up indefinitely as a violent sexual predator.
“We think he’s mentally ill and dangerous,” said Todd Bowers of the state Attorney General’s Office.
In 1990, Washington became the first state to create a program to keep behind bars people determined to be at risk of committing more sex crimes even after they have completed their sentences. A special facility near Tacoma holds about 300 of them, including Coe, whose sentence was completed in 2006.
A person is convicted of a crime and sentenced. He never allocutes; he maintains his innocence throughout (despite the government’s repeated attempts at blackmail offered in the form of early parole) and he serves his FULL TERM. At which time the government continues to keep him locked up; found guilty by a jury of legislators, of having the potential to commit another crime.
The state reserves the power to take away your property, your liberty and your very life. They enforce this power at the tip of a gun. All laws, all regulations (and, apparently now, all judgment on potential) is maintained by the government, ultimately, on penalty of death. The abrogation of your liberty is a trifle by comparison. Just ask Kevin Coe.
This is why the most terrifying thing in the world is not a murderer, not a rapist, not even the wholesale failure of our financial markets. No, at all times the thing to be most terrified of is the government and its benign attempts to help.
Alex, I don’t think I want to play Double Jeopardy…
Craig Klein says:
Dead on! Unfortunately, most people don’t think like an entrepreneur. Most people will do anything to avoid risk.
September 19, 2008 — 10:34 am
Keith says:
Sounds like the Goverment is doing the right thing to me! You can tell the apple does not fall far from the tree…
“Coe’s crimes reached a national audience, especially after his late mother, Ruth, tried to hire a hit man to kill the judge and prosecutor assigned to his case.”
As for the financial mess, well who else is going to clean it up? Should we let foreign investors buy it all up?
September 19, 2008 — 11:16 am
Tom Vanderwell says:
Alex, I don’t think I want to play Double Jeopardy…
Sean, that line says so much, I think it’s one of the best that you’ve written in a while. And I truly agree….
Tom
September 19, 2008 — 11:52 am
Sean Purcell says:
Craig,
Unfortunately, most people don’t think like an entrepreneur. Most people will do anything to avoid risk
I agree. The sad part is they don’t realize that the greatest risk is in working for someone else.
September 19, 2008 — 1:02 pm
Sean Purcell says:
Keith,
I don’t pretend to know much about the actual case, but it is not difficult to create a variety of views. E.g. I hope at least one person in my family would be upset enough to contemplate what his mother did… if they knew I was innocent.
In any case, “doing the right thing” is subjective and I respect your opinion. But I am reminded of a poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller:
I guess you can hope the government stops with jailing people for potential crimes you have no history with (although how would we know)?
September 19, 2008 — 1:13 pm
Sean Purcell says:
Tom,
Thank you. That means even more coming from you.
September 19, 2008 — 1:15 pm
St George Rent says:
I don’t know much about this guys case or what he is accused of. But I do know that back then forensic evidence is not what it is now and he could easily be innocent and they do not want to explore the case even after he has done his time. Very sad they cannot just say you did the punishment that we originally sentenced and so now you are free.
September 19, 2008 — 1:29 pm
Sean Purcell says:
St George,
I was discussing this some more here in the office this morning. The thing is, I may have personal feelings about whether or not this guy is a rapist; I may even dislike him without ever having met him – call me judgemental. But we should all be fighting for his rights within our system, no matter what our personal feelings are. This is the essence of America… right?
September 19, 2008 — 2:10 pm
Keith says:
Sean,
I respect your opinion too, and your writings.
Just having a hard time wrapping my head around how the Government forming a RTC, has anything to do with a convicted rapist.
You wrote this… found guilty by a jury of legislators,
But the article says this… Prosecutors will seek to convince a jury
That is the American way, it’s not perfect, but it hopefully works more often than not.
I am sorry, I guess it just touched a nerve, that you would use a convicted rapist, as a means to compare what is going on with our financial turmoil.
Alex, “I’ll take Kevin Coe as a neighbor, because I believe he deserves to be out of jail” for a lifetime!
September 19, 2008 — 2:15 pm
Sean Purcell says:
Keith,
I think we may be miscommunicating. I don’t want this guy living next door to me and I’m not introducing him to my neice. I don’t know if he is guilty but a jury thought so and that’s enough for me.
But, when prosecutors can go before a jury to keep you locked up for a crime you didn’t commit because the government is doing all it can to help us… that is more scary to me. I am not comparing the RTC to a rapist. I am comparing the “best intentions” government that condones and creates laws whose effect is the abject loss of our liberty with the “best intentions” government that creates $1 trillion dollar bail outs and financial industry socialization. A slippery slope is a slippery slope.
September 19, 2008 — 2:31 pm
Keith says:
Whew! OK, you are talking about holding some possible terrorists then. Got your point.
Do you watch Jim Cramer at all? He is saying this action of the government, is saving us from another Great Depression. Sell, sell, sell… buy, buy buy!
September 19, 2008 — 8:35 pm