November 23, 2005

Polk County to Des Moines, IA sex offenders: "Keep moving!"

State 29 noted a while back that the Polk County, Iowa Board of Supervisors was considering restrictions on where sex offenders could live. State 29 doesn't like the idea; in his view it persecutes those who have 'paid their debt'. Whether this restriction idea is constitutional or not is iffy. Ex cons can't have guns in most states. Is that unconstitutional?

At any event, the Polk County Board passed the restrictions today. This comes after cities like Council Bluffs and Des Moines (in Polk County) passed exclusionary ordinances. It isn't surprising, the rural folks don't like the cities' pushing their undesirables out into the unincorporated countryside.

It seems everyone wants to make these cats move away. We admit that some of them are broken clocks; they can't be fixed. We don't have the guts to kill them, and we don't want to put them all away for life. At least we don't want to pay for putting them away for life. We won't lock them up, but we will lock them out? At some point the difference becomes irrelevant.

I would be OK with outlawing these broken clocks. By outlaw, I mean removing them from the sight of the law. Once a cat was outlawed, his life, liberty, property and even his sensibilities would no longer be afforded the protection of the law. Nobody would have to tolerate outlaws as neighbors. Outlaws couldn't prefer criminal charges against honest folks, or sue them for damages. Anyone could kill an outlaw with impunity. The really bad ones wouldn't suffer long.

As it is, I get the feeling we are so gutless that we would like pass so many restrictions and heap so much shame on these miserable wretches that they will give up and kill themselves. Maybe they should. Our collective hands will be clean, no?
IF it chance your eye offend you,
Pluck it out, lad, and be sound:
’Twill hurt, but here are salves to friend you,
And many a balsam grows on ground.

And if your hand or foot offend you,
Cut it off, lad, and be whole;
But play the man, pack up and move you,
When your sickness is your soul.
Apologies to A.E. Housman

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.