"I Propose..."
Sep 6, 2018 14:59:43 #
"I Propose..."
“I propose that it shall be no longer malum in se for a citizen to pummel, cowhide, kick, gouge, cut, wound, bruise, maim, burn, club, bastinado, flay, or even lynch a [government] jobholder, and that it shall be malum prohibitum only to the extent that the punishment exceeds the jobholder’s deserts. The amount of this excess, if any, may be determined very conveniently by a petit jury, as other questions of guilt are now determined. The flogged judge, or Congressman, or other jobholder, on being discharged from hospital- or his chief heir, in case he has perished- goes before a grand jury and makes a complaint, and, if a true bill is found, a petit jury is empaneled and all the evidence is put before it. If it decides that the jobholder deserves the punishment inflicted upon him, the citizen who inflicted it is acquitted with honor. If, on the contrary, it decides that this punishment was excessive, then the citizen is adjudged guilty of assault, mayhem, murder, or wh**ever it is, in a degree apportioned to the difference between what the jobholder deserved and what he got, and punishment for that excess follows in the usual course."
- H. L. Mencken,
"The Malevolent Jobholder," The American Mercury (June, 1924)
Bastinados available at kiosks in the Metro stations.
“I propose that it shall be no longer malum in se for a citizen to pummel, cowhide, kick, gouge, cut, wound, bruise, maim, burn, club, bastinado, flay, or even lynch a [government] jobholder, and that it shall be malum prohibitum only to the extent that the punishment exceeds the jobholder’s deserts. The amount of this excess, if any, may be determined very conveniently by a petit jury, as other questions of guilt are now determined. The flogged judge, or Congressman, or other jobholder, on being discharged from hospital- or his chief heir, in case he has perished- goes before a grand jury and makes a complaint, and, if a true bill is found, a petit jury is empaneled and all the evidence is put before it. If it decides that the jobholder deserves the punishment inflicted upon him, the citizen who inflicted it is acquitted with honor. If, on the contrary, it decides that this punishment was excessive, then the citizen is adjudged guilty of assault, mayhem, murder, or wh**ever it is, in a degree apportioned to the difference between what the jobholder deserved and what he got, and punishment for that excess follows in the usual course."
- H. L. Mencken,
"The Malevolent Jobholder," The American Mercury (June, 1924)
Bastinados available at kiosks in the Metro stations.
Sep 6, 2018 17:14:50 #
Sep 6, 2018 17:26:43 #
BigMike wrote:
If they deserve it you can beat the snot out of them? Sounds fair.
Only a proposal mind you. We need the convention of states to propose this.
Sep 6, 2018 17:42:20 #
pafret wrote:
Only a proposal mind you. We need the convention of states to propose this.
Used to be legal...more or less.
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