Regulation and Ethics

Enforcement of Regulations

Posted on July 31,2009

It is an exercise in frustration to have to deal with crimes of greed. Whether it's the greed on Wall Street, our courtrooms, or the sale of fake and weak drugs to the developing nations. Crimes of greed decimate the innocent.

The question is, what do we do about it? Should we pass new regulations? Or maybe we should teach our young the universally held values of right and wrong for a foundation from which to grow.

Just one of the problems not getting much traction in the press concerns the lack of ethics and greed of the manufacture and distribution of fake and weakened medicines to treat malaria. This quoted from the organization that fights the good fight against the devastation of malaria "Africa Fighting Malaria". Africa Fighting Malaria (AFM) seeks to raise awareness of the huge burden of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and promote sensible policies for long-term solutions.

Fake and Substandard Drugs Threaten Malaria Treatment in Cambodia

"A stream of poor-quality and counterfeit malaria drugs coming into Cambodia is contributing to a growing resistance to treatment for the disease near the Thai-Cambodian border. Many of the drugs are cheaply made and don't contain the right chemistry, or are stored at incorrect temperatures, while others are deliberate fakes that have authentic-looking pills and packaging but contain only a small percentage of the active ingredient in each pill. People in Cambodia are unknowingly using "improper drugs and fake drugs which create resistance," Duong Socheat, director of the nation's malaria control program said. The problem is fueled by the country's many informal pharmacies and merchants that don't have the proper training to provide the correct drug regimen, he said."

The AFM newsletter chronicles the efforts of the world's effort in fighting malaria. If anyone is interested in reading the continuing saga of political interference, and greedy marketing that is preventing effective control over malaria can contact AFM and subscribe to their newsletter. You can email them at Africa@fightingmalaria.org .

The outrage of greed shakes our societies to their core. We can pass more regulations against these and others who want to succeed the easy way at other people's expense, but piling on more unenforced regulations doesn't do much to stop this greedy crowd. There are already laws against most bad behavior in all countries but laws alone cannot stop this contagion.

It seems that nobody wants to step up to the plate and enforce laws governing human behavior. For almost every law there is a contingent that opposes that law. Some of the constituencies against laws governing human behavior are large enough to exert political pressure against that law's enforcement. That leaves few avenues to corral bad behavior.

As long as regulations go unenforced, passing more such regulations is futile. Passing redundant legislation may be politically expedient, but does nothing to solve the problem. I do not doubt the sincerity of those who feel compassion for the guilty and transgressors of our laws, but at some point in time, there has to be a line drawn that violators cannot cross and be made accountable for their crimes.

You can list any of several laws that are either protested or not enforced. Some of these would be:

1. Illegal entry into the United States: Numerous groups including Democrats, businesses wanting cheap labor, and Church Groups support illegal immigrants. All have a vested interest in seeing that our laws are not enforced. Our immigration laws are in shambles because of the divisions over illegal immigrants.

2. Hate Crime Laws: Passed to appease our racial strife, adds additional penalties to existing laws. It is like telling the criminal, "If you break the law in this fashion, we are really going to get mad." Respect must be earned. It is not a question of deserves. Deserves has nothing to do with it. Passing gratuitous laws serve only to create more division.

3. Wall Street Woes: There are far too many laws passed to try and overcome the greed emanating from our financial institutions. But when you follow the education trail, the Wall Street elites come from the most Liberal Institutions in this country. Liberals have no interest in the teaching of ethics or right and wrong when it comes to human behavior. Most graduates from the Eastern Ivy League group are programmed to do only one thing - make money. We cannot produce enough non-corruptible overseers for corporate greed and corruption. We are at the mercy of the private ethics held by those titans of Wall Street.

4. Marketers of Bad Drugs: Same problem as with the preceding. There are already laws against this stuff. What is needed is a strong dose of enforcement and ethics. How would more unenforced laws help?

This is why I rail so much against those whose aim it is to destroy religion. The church is about the only place that stresses right from wrong. You never hear a peep about it from the secularist. The secular can only set up boundaries for a particular group and give no incentive for following those guidelines. So many of the laws passed by local, State and Federal are designed only for extracting money from people.

Once entrapped in the legal system, whether innocent or guilty, the court has the power to not only imprison you, but also pick your wallet. It is not an equitable system. You cannot defend yourself without an understanding of courtroom protocol. The average person drowns without a lawyer because of his/her not understanding how the legal system works. The process is designed that way for the enrichment of the beneficiaries of the system. Fines enrich the local authorities; bail is set for the enrichment of authorities and bondsmen.

Have you ever wondered why a bail is set? When a person comes before a judge whether innocent or guilty, for some reason, the judge only lets you plea. If you plead guilty, you get either a fine or/and a sentence for imprisonment. But if you plead innocent and want to fight the charges against you, you have to 'buy' your freedom through the bail process even if you are not a flight risk. The bail is usually set just out of reach of the average person which leaves him with no recourse other than to get a bail bond. It is a nice cozy arrangement for those in the system. If that is not enough, you have to sift your way through the low tier lawyers that haunt the courtrooms for easy government money to represent you. Or, you can hire an achieved lawyer for a princely sum. There is no way that you can get away clean, even if you are innocent, it will cost you dearly.

The legal system is what it is. I do not have the skills to design a better system. The point in writing about it is to convey a deeply held idea that the system is without ethics and has evolved into nothing more than a sham to extract money from you. Most of the crimes that come before the courts are misdemeanors and represent people who by nature are not hardened criminals. I am sure that the people involved in the system do not share my opinion, but they have done nothing to give me reason to take a different position.

In conclusion, no law should be enacted without the intention or resources to enforce it. No law should be enacted for political reasons. If any law is enacted where there is already provisions for such an incident, the old law should be stricken from the records. It seems that we never clean the books. We just keep adding to them, making life more complicated.

Everyone should be trained in ethical behavior. Many of our problems could be solved if people were just honest and truthful. But without a firm grasp of what is universally considered right and wrong, we will continue the upward spiral of unenforceable laws.

Cheers,

-Robert-

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