Sound Off: 2018

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Law and Order in the United States

Hello bloggers. It’s been a while since I wrote an editorial. But I haven’t’ been feeling good lately. But I’m going to try my best here so on with the blog post!

Law in Order in this country tends to be a very multifaceted thing. There are some crimes we take very seriously such as street crime and terrorism, but there also are crimes that people don’t take very seriously like white collar crime and speeding. I can understand why people tend to take street crime and terrorism very seriously, because they are both a threat to people’s safety. White-collar crime on the other hand is not taken as seriously because violence is almost never involved so people tend to see it as more benign. While they may be very rarely violent a white collar criminal on the other hand can be more serious because a white collar criminal can be capable of taking down an entire economy as we seen with the 2008 recession. While a white-collar criminal can be seen as non-threatening, on the other hand a white-collar criminal can potentially ruin more lives. While a street criminal could ruin lives too, the damage tends to be more local. People are more likely to fear a street criminal because a street criminal is much more likely to use violence to commit his actions. Terrorists as we have seen in recent history are the same story as a street criminal. So we fear them and want them out of our lives.

Starting in the mid-late 1960s, with the social upheaval, people began to fear for their lives and began to move out of cities en mass at this time. Also the political spectrum was starting to lean more rightward. Conservative politicians played up on these people’s fears which got them elected in the late 1960’s. There was a level of hypocrisy to it however because many of the law and order candidates had ended up being quite corrupt. As we seen with the Nixon, Reagan, and our current President’s administrations, they certainly were not immune to lawlessness. When a Law and Order politician gets in trouble, there is generally more controversy surrounding him because of his hypocrisy. When a politician doesn’t run on this platform, it doesn’t seem as controversial when he or she gets in trouble. Having a holier than thou attitude can backfire on you when you get in trouble obviously!

Speeding on the other hand maybe technically illegal but many people tend to do it either because they are in a hurry or because other people are doing it. Roads are like the Wild West in some ways, people tend to cut you off, tailgate, and go at dangerous speeds. Now it may seem okay to speed on a road because other people are doing it but it is more dangerous than driving the speed limit. Just because you haven’t been in an accident yet doesn’t mean that there is no danger. Speed Limits are there for a reason and many roads can’t handle high speed travel. Besides speeding could not only get you in trouble but it also can be quite expensive. Going faster puts more wear on your car and uses more gas. It also adds more stress as well and the time savings are not as much as you think. I think people are better off just going at the speed limit, its less stressful.

Now I’m not marginalizing street crime and terrorism, because they remain very serious problems. But there are other crimes out there. While some crimes such as white-collar crime and speeding may not seem serious, they can be just as serious as street crime and terrorism.

Well, I’m done ranting right now. Maybe one of these days I may talk about something else that is on my mind or post some railroad videos. See ya soon!