Extemporaneous musings, occasionally poetic, about life in its richly varied dimensions, especially as relates to history, theology, law, literature, science, by one who is an attorney, ordained minister, historian, writer, and African American.
Sunday, July 23, 2017
SELLER BEWARE
SELLER BEWARE!
Sunday, July 23, 2017
BY Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman
BRUTALITY INFLICTED UPON A WOMAN SELING FLOWERS BY POLICE WAS SO DISPROPORTIONATE AND WAS SO UNCALLED-FOR, THAT IT INVOKED HOWLS OF PROTESTS FROM EMBITTERED ONLINE VIEWERS.
IT BROUGHT TO MIND THE ARRESTS OF SEVERAL BLACK TEENAGERS WHO HAD BEEN SELLING BOTTLED WATER ON THE NATIONAL MALL IN JULY; AND THE DEATH OF ERIC GARNER FOR SELLING CIGARETTES.
AT BACK OF THESE ARRESTS AND BRUTALITY ARE LAWS, REGULATIONS ENACTED OR PROMULGATED BY SOME MEN AND WOMEN TO SQUEEZE OTHER PEOPLE OUT OF THE MARKET PLACE BY PAID-POLITICAL PROCESSES. THESE PRIVATE POLITICAL PURCHASERS, THEN, HAVE THEIR PUCHASED LEGAL PRODUCT PUBLICLY ENFORCED BY TAPAYER-SUPPORTED POLICE COERCION, INCLUDING LETHAL FORCE. THE POLICE ARE, IN TURN, LARGELY IMMUNIZED FROM CRIMINAL PROSECUTION OR FROM CIVIL LIABILITY, BY THE SAME PURCHASING POLITICAL FORCES WHO HAVE PUT UP THE MONEY TO ELECT THE JUDGES, THE PROSECUTORS, THE POLITICIANS, TO ENACT AND ENFORCE THE LAWS PURCHASED TO ENRICH THE PURCHASERS, AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHERS’ EXCLUSION FROM THE PUBLIC MARKET PLACE. SELLING SOMETHING, THEN, IS AS RISKY AS IT IS RISQUE IN THE REALM OF UNREASONABLE REGULATIONS.
“CAVEAT EMPTOR” IS LATIN FOR “BUYER BEWARE!” IN AMERICA, THAT GOES FOR OTHER SELLERS TOO!