March 13, 2006
Political Science Department
Questions for Matt to Ask the G
My wife's boss's son, Matthew, has a school assignment to write letters to his Congressional representative and to one of the Senators from Illinois. He's trying to think of questions to ask them. I thought I could make a few suggestions:
- There's a piece of the World Trade Center in the Drug Enforcement Agency's exhibit on the link between terrorism and drug trafficking, even though the DEA admits there's no link between 9/11 and drug trafficking. Are the DEA administrators stupid? Or are they trying to exploit the victims of 9/11?
- The United States imprisons a larger portion of its population than any other country. Is that because the people of the United States are a pack of criminals? Or is that because the government of the United States is a cruel tyranny?
- In July of 2002, less than a year into the War on Terror, the top federal prosecutor for South Carolina, Strom Thurmond Jr., took the time to prosecuted a 21-year old college woman for selling her used panties through the mail. The crime carries a maximum sentence of five years. Was this a stupid prosecution? Or was this the stupidest prosecution?
- Our current system of military draft registration was created in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Now that we've helped kick the Soviets out, and the Soviet Union has crumbled and fallen, and our own invasion of Afghanistan is complete, can we stop making high school kids sign up for this?
- There's a federal law that limits all toilets to a maximum of 1.6 gallons per flush. That's a great rule for people in, say, Los Angeles, because they decided to build the United States' second most populous city on the edge of a desert. Those of us living in Chicago, however, have wisely chosen to live next to one of the largest bodies of fresh water on the planet. Why does the law treat all of us the same when there are such obvious differences between regions? In fact, since water purification and sewage treatment are both local activities, why is this a federal matter?
- The new cockpit security systems now installed on all commercial flights have rendered them hijack-proof. All the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) needs to watch out for are explosives, firearms, and other weapons that could bring down a plane. Why hasn't the TSA streamlined its security checkpoints? Why aren't all those resources being redirected to secure other targets that remain vulnerable? Does the government have some ulterior motive for continuing to subject Americans to pointless warrantless searches by petty bureaucrats?
Any additional suggestions from you folks out there?
2 Comments
Leave a comment
.
I got one for ya :-)
What part of this sentence don't you understand?
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Sure.
The 1996 anti-terrorism and family reconciliation acts, if I remember these ridculous titles correctly, prohibit people with drug convictions from receiving government benefits including food stamps, housing and student loans. This has failed to stop drug use, but succeeded in creating a class of homeless, uneducated and unemployable citizens. When are we going to put a stop to this madness?