The police respond to reports of a crime. (Getty Images)
Now I’m for a little civil disobedience from time to time. Think of Henry David Thoreau being thrown in jail for refusing to pay a poll tax – his way of speaking out against government complicity in slavery.
That is taking a stand.
“Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we try to change them and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we break them at once? Men generally think under such a government as this that they must wait until they have persuaded the majority to change them,” he opined in 1849.
But lately it seems that people have no respect for law and order.
First, we published a Stateline story about state and local lawmakers in Tennessee and Pennsylvania who are cracking down on the use of “license plate flippers” — devices that allow drivers to hide or obscure their license plates with the push of a button. It’s very James Bond, I think.
Police say they are used to avoid tickets and tolls. It is generally illegal in the United States to alter or block a license plate regardless of the method, but this takes it to a whole other level.
Then an Indiana legislative panel heard scary testimony from the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office about alleged criminals using signal jammers.
When officers stopped to investigate a burglary, their radios and computers stopped working.
Signal jammers can block Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and more, affecting devices such as phones, doorbell cameras and wireless alarm systems. Sheriff Noah Robinson said someone who discovered his office had a range of a mile.
“You don’t have to go too far further to see that this has other applications, especially from the terrorism aspect,” he warned.
The jammers are illegal at the federal level, but state lawmakers can also pass a state law, making it easier for local police to enforce a ban.
I realize that people will always break laws, but it seems that society has moved more in that direction in recent years. Scrolling through social media is full of videos of people beating each other up and bystanders cheering. And often the comments encourage vigilante behavior.
Shouldn’t they call the police instead of taking a video?
And that brings me to Election Day on November 5. I fear that some people will resort to violence, and instead I call for a civil debate.
Faced with mounting threats to election workers and overheated political rhetoric, more states are considering bans on firearms at polling places and ballot boxes. New Mexico became the latest state to restrict guns where people vote or drop off ballots, joining at least 21 other states with similar laws — some banning open or concealed carry, but most both. Indiana does not ban firearms at polling places.
We all need to be very aware that we will not have complete election results the evening of – or even the morning after – election day. Counting mail-in ballots is taking longer, and more Americans are using this method than ever before.
It doesn’t make the elections suspect. It simply means that it takes a while to count the ballots and that all fifty states have different processes. Some jurisdictions even require manual counting of ballots.
One thing I think would help the situation is if major news outlets would stop calling races based on exit polls. Let the election officials do their job. Calling a race right after a poll closes makes people feel like their votes don’t count.
After watching the frustration boil on January 6, 2021, I can only hope that cooler heads will prevail this year and that no violence will occur.
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