Cheating by changing the rules mid-game
Also known as "ex post facto laws". These are laws which make illegal an act that was legal when committed, increase the penalties for an infraction after it has been committed, or change the rules of evidence to make conviction easier. Supposedly the Constitution forbids this sort of governmental cheating, but in practice it is standard procedure in Police State USA.
And, when popular opinion is against the targets of these rule changes, no one seems to care.
Two common targets of these kind of "laws" are sex offenders and those who were convicted of domestic violence. I have heard other categories may be subject to these "laws" in certain places.
Yes, they might be horrible people. On the other hand, they may have agreed to plead guilty, believing it better to just get this ugly business behind them-- after all, the accepted punishment seemed tolerable-- only to find the rules changed later, after the debt was thought to be paid.
It's dangerous to even stand with these victims of government cheating and against these kinds of "laws", because you'll be seen as standing with a hated class of people. However, if government can violate the Constitution to heap more punishments on those you hate, it can do the same to you.
Just imagine if you paid a "fine" for speeding a decade ago, then suddenly a new "law" says if you have ever pleaded guilty to a traffic offense (and they define paying the "fine" as an admission of guilt) you forever "lose your right" to own or operate a motor vehicle. And you will also be prohibited from owning firearms or any "dangerous weapon" for the rest of your life. And whatever else they decide to saddle you with. Perhaps a registry you are required to inform of your every move so they can keep tabs on you.
What's to stop the government from coming up with exciting new punishments whenever it suits them? To the cheering, or the yawns, of a population who doesn't see it as affecting them at all, but only "Those People"; those "criminals".
Don't think it could happen? Then you don't understand the nature of government.
If you're OK with government doing this to some people, who do you expect to come to your defense if (or when) government decides to do it to you?
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Amen to this. It's quite sad how some people and organizations stop caring about civil rights violations when those violated are "criminals" or "convicts;" then all is fair game. And given the massive amounts of legislation at all levels of government on the books, nobody is innocent; some people just haven't been caught yet. But when they are, they might be surprised how little care is given to their rights all of a sudden, both by the system and the public at large. After all, nobody gets arrested unless they have done something wrong, right?
"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all." ~ H. L. Mencken
Nice reading there.. congratulations!
What was nice about it? What did you like, what made you leave this remark? ..?
I enjoyed reading, and I actually worried a little about just thinking that this could become real. I imagined what such a world would be like, a world of "assumptions".
What's that mean "I imagined ... a world of "assumptions"?
I hope you consider thes simple things:
Big Government. Our friend. LOL
Business as usual for those that are seen as "our protectors": the absurdity of some people can do what most cannot along with their broken promises which hardly affect people trusting them, to protect them. The oldest scam in the book, a protection racket.