INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

August 9, 2008 Blog

The founding fathers of our great nation were determined that this country would not suppress or mistreat minorities. The Constitution and Bill of Rights were carefully worded to assure individual rights of every citizen. Liberty and justice was for all, not just a privileged few.

An important part of this was the idea that a person was considered innocent unless proven guilty by a court of law. It is not like that in much of the world. Even in Western Europe, the burden of proof lies with the accused. A person accused of a crime must prove his innocence.

When we lived in Austria, I was driving in another Province for a conference. On a free afternoon, I took several others into town to do some shopping. On our way into town, several oncoming motorists blinked their headlights, which is the standard warning that police are checking for speeders. Everyone in my car looked at the speedometer and saw that I was doing the legal speed limit. I rounded a curve and a policeman waved me over and issued me a ticket for speeding. I argued that I was not speeding and all my passengers assured him that this was so. The policeman was unmoved and simply said, "You can appeal the ticket in a court if you like. If you convince the judge, you won't have to pay." Ticketing out-of-town motorists is cash income for many communities.

PUNISHING GOOD CITIZENS

Today, the constitution of our founding fathers has been twisted and re-interpreted to the extent that exactly what the founders intended to prevent is occurring.  The innocent are punished and the guilty rewarded! Hard-working, decent, honest, tax-paying citizens are penalized while illegal aliens, lazy bums, criminals, unscrupulous CEOs, and corrupt politicians enjoy special privileges and legal protection.

Consider the following scenarios.

1) Keep your property in good repair, clean and environmentally friendly and the government raises your taxes. Lower taxes are the reward for neglect.

2) Owners of rental properties have few rights. Renters who don't pay their rent or utilities and trash the place are protected by law. The owner isn't even permitted to refuse to rent to a person who has a record of not paying bills.

3) Criminals get away with murder, robbery, rape and other crimes because their clever lawyers discover a "technical error." Recently, three young men gang-raped a 13-year-old girl. They video taped everything, laughing and joking while the girl cried. They got off the hook with probation because the police had not gone to law school. They made a technical mistake when confiscating the video tape.

4) Home owners who have fiscally sound mortgage policies and faithfully make their payments are being charged $300 billion Dollars to bail out speculators who gambled with risky mortgages and the companies who got rich off these speculations.

5) While waiting for a flight, I saw a wallet lying under a seat in the Newark Airport waiting area. I gave it to a lady at the Information Counter. She reprimanded me, saying that if I had given it to a policeman, I would have missed my flight and been the subject of intense police interrogation until my innocence could be ascertained. No wonder people look the other way when a crime is taking place. They are not so much afraid of reprisals from the criminals as they are fearful of legal implications.

6) About a year ago, police were hunting for an escaped prisoner in our township. A farmer called 911 and reported that he saw someone lurking behind his shed. Two police cruisers soon showed up and captured the escapee. In the process, however, one of the officers tripped over a plow in the dark and injured his leg. He sued the farmer!

7) A pastor and his wife had raised their three children successfully and decided to take in a state child. Their request was refused because "they could be expected to instill religious ideas in the child." The child was instead placed with a pair of homosexuals.

8) Our founding fathers inserted precautions in the Constitution against the formation of a church-state or state-church in America. Much of Europe was ruled by church-state coalitions for centuries, assuring privileges for the elite and suppressing the peasants. Most Arab nations are still ruled in this fashion. Women and non Muslims have no rights. Our Supreme Court has re-interpreted the Constitution to declare that America must be an atheistic nation - a nation without God! Only one other nation in history was thus declared. Albania, the homeland of Mother Theresa, was soon reduced to the poorest nation in Europe.

Belief in God should be voluntary. Mandating a specific religion is wrong, but outlawing God and religion is worse!  We are already observing the consequences!