Division of Powers within a State


I tend to run between extreme frustration with China and extreme frustration with the US, and then the happy times in transit between. Over the past few years, however, due to so many things and systems breaking down, I have had practice multi-tasking. I think I am getting good at it.


In Alabama, for instance, Harper’s is on the case of political prosecutions, as I predicted; see what they linked to:


The Independent first reported on this web site last week the incredible swan song of Middle District U. S. Attorney Leura Canary and her counterpart in the Northern District of Alabama, Alice Martin as they collaborate on a witchhunt against a member of their own political klan, the Attorney General of Alabama.

Both are lame ducks and will be replaced or removed as soon as the nation’s Attorney General can stay in Washington long enough to take care of his duties. He should have already secured their successors, even if just on an interim basis.

But the big mystery is why they have turned on Troy King. Apparently Canary instigated the investigation, then recused her entire office and brought Martin in from Birmingham. That in itself sounds dubious. It suggests that someone on the outside likely influenced the calling of the special grand jury.

Was it Bob Riley, who is known to now disfavor King, the man he appointed AG. Was it the governor’s son Rob and lawyer Luther Strange, who is planning to run against King. It has been suggested by some that these two fostered previous rumors about the attorney general. Of course, as some have suggested, Karl Rove could be back in the state.

This is obviously a political move by someone and the Justice Department should be sent in to supervise any investigation or grand jury proceeding in which these two U. S. Attorney offices are involved.


[Emphasis Mine]


Its a knock-down, drag out intercine bloodbath down there, when in fact all parties involved should be under Federal investigation in the first place. But my point is to focus on what will happen here: Federal power will be used to correct local problems. Just as many times before, the central power is able to enter the local region and effect change, and perhaps promote justice.


We see aspects of this in cases such as the Jena 6, as state action at the local level (power utilized under ‘color of law’) can create actionable claims under Federal Law. The center provides a constant buffer to control excesses at the local level. Click here for a brief summary of the Jena 6 case, which provides most of the basic facts. In that case, I seem to remember the local prosecutor coming to the high school and basically telling the black students he was prosecution-happy.


Now, China:


In the fall of 2005, [Chen Guangcheng] came to Beijing. During a meeting with foreign journalists, he was forcibly taken away by the Shandong police. Thereafter, he was placed under house arrest. In March 2006, he was taken away by the Yinan police and held incommunicado. On August 24, 2006, the Yinan County People’s Court found Chen Guangcheng guilty of intentional destruction of property and disruption of traffic and sentenced this blind human rights activist to four years and three months of jail time.



Completely undifferentiated. Let’s re-write that to be clearer:


“In the fall of 2005, [Chen Guangcheng] came to in Beijing, Shandong Police seized Chen Guangcheng [d]uring a meeting with foreign journalists and took him back to Shandong, while Beijing security forces yawned and ate watermelon seeds.



Can you believe that? Yokel city police go to the capital city and carry out whatever missions float their boat, no questions asked. Do they even have to talk to anyone in advance? I would expect so, but still, it just defies comprehension. China has got a huge, undifferentiated mass which holds actual power. Look at the boldness under color of law but certainly without proper legal basis; there is no check on these people at all, apparently:


[Chen's wife] said: “Master Wang, you don’t know that but these people have been around our home for more than one year. All the people who came to see us last year were chased away. Some of them were injured. You should leave as quickly as possible. They won’t let you go just like that. There will be cars with no license plate coming after you.
I asked her who these people were. Village leaders, or village residents? Weijing said, “These are society dregs. There are 22 persons in total. There is always 11 persons around our home, 24 hours per day. They are posted around the courtyard. They work in shifts, so there is always someone there.



The proof that there is no meaningful division or limitation of power, much less balancing is everywhere. Local security forces act as impromptu jailers in the shanzhai detention camps. Would it matter if the person seized were a Beijing resident? No, not really, unless he or she had a family with some sort of power. No individualized rights, right? Ka Na Du.


So, there you go. This is a very important story. If Beijing cannot control the local forces that are acting with this level of arrogance then there are big problems afoot. This is not something like the holding of the charter peeps, (all links blocked at present) which is in some ways even more serious, but not something that will lead to wide-spread volatility. Every Yinan is a point of potential weakness, and if such point multiply, watch out. The center must regulate local excesses.
This entry was posted in Self-correcting Systems, Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>