Subsidiarity

The thesis is not new, the unintended consequences of expanding the police power of the state. RICO rules written to bring down mobsters were used to destroy the anti-abortion protest movement. (And of course, as peaceful protest was outlawed, some protesters turned violent in their frustration).

Now we learn it was the Patriot Act that ensnared Elliott Spitzer. When Elliott Spitzer showed up on the radar screen, whatever he was engaged in, it would not be terrorism. Nonetheless, away they go. And his crime? Call girls. I guess the lesson to politicians is be like Henry Hyde and Bill Clinton: never pay for it.

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