The civil forfeiture law - if something so devoid of due process can be dignified as law - is an incentive for perverse behavior: Predatory government agencies get to pocket the proceeds from property they seize from Americans without even charging them with, let alone convicting them of, crimes. Criminals are treated better than this because they lose the fruits of their criminality only after being convicted.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes civil forfeiture laws that allow the government to seize property without due process, suggesting it promotes corruption.
George Will's quote highlights the issues surrounding civil forfeiture laws, which permit authorities to confiscate property from individuals without requiring them to be charged with a crime. This lack of due process is seen as a violation of individual rights, where government agencies profit from actions that are considered more punitive than the treatment of convicted criminals, raising ethical concerns about fairness and justice in the legal system.
In practice
In a debate about property rights, one might use this quote to illustrate the dangers of government overreach.
The problem with intelligent-design theory, is not that it is false but that it is not falsifiable. Not being susceptible to contradicting evidence, it is not a testable hypothesis. Hence it is not a scientific but a creedal tenet - a matter of faith, unsuited to a public school's science curriculum.
The cultivation - even celebration - of victimhood by intellectuals, tort lawyers, politicians and the media is both cause and effect of today's culture of complaint.
Correct thinkers think that 'baseball trivia' is an oxymoron: nothing about baseball is trivial.
Constitutional arguments that seem as dry as dust can have momentous consequences.
Actually, there is only one first question of government, and it is How should we live? or What kind of people do we want our citizens to be?
The business of America is not business. Neither is it war. The business of america is justice and securing the blessings of liberty.
If an African-American or a recent immigrant - or anyone else, for that matter - can't feel secure walking into a police station or up to a police officer to report a crime, because of a fear that they're not going to be treated well, then everything else that we promise is on a shaky foundation.
Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.
We must put an end to the corruption and systemic racism in our justice system, and that starts by electing progressive district attorneys who will fight for real justice across the country.
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.
Crime takes place in every country. But it becomes abuse when the state is unwilling and unable to protect the life and honour of its citizens.
Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
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