The Tyranny of Good Intentions: How Prosecutors and Law Enforcement Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice | 
 enlarge | Authors: Paul Craig Roberts, Lawrence M. Stratton
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 111244
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0307396061
Dewey Decimal Number: 340
EAN: 9780307396068
ASIN: 0307396061
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
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Amazon.com
The authors of The New Color Line return with another libertarian polemic, this time taking aim at a justice system that has lost sight of its most important goals. Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence M. Stratton warn of a "police state that is creeping up on us from many directions." There's the war on drugs, which makes it possible for federal agents to investigate people simply for carrying large amounts of cash. There's the crusade against white-collar crime, which has turned the plea bargain into an enemy of the truth. And there's outright misconduct, abetted by prosecutors more interested in compiling long lists of indictments than ensuring the fair treatment of all suspects. The Tyranny of Good Intentions is replete with examples of how government treads on freedom through ill-willed prosecution and faceless bureaucracy. The book's overpowering sense of disaffection sometimes leads to alarmist prose: "We the People have vanished. Our place has been taken by wise men and anointed elites." The authors are swift to suggest that America, barring "an intellectual rebirth," may yet go the way of "German Nazis and Soviet communists." Yet The Tyranny of Good Intentions is nothing if not well intended; it is full of passion and always on the attack, whether the writers are taking on racial quotas, wetland regulations, or any number of policies they find objectionable. In a jacket blurb, libertarian icon Milton Friedman calls it "a devastating indictment of our current system of justice." Roberts and Stratton, although right-leaning in many of their political sympathies, will probably find plenty of fans on ACLU-left--and anybody who cringes at the thought of unbridled state power. If the road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions, consider this book an atlas. --John J. Miller
Product Description
In this updated and expanded edition of The Tyranny of Good Intentions, Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence M. Stratton renew their valiant campaign to reclaim that which is rightly ours–liberty protected by the rule of law. They show how crusading legislators and unfair prosecutors are remaking American law into a weapon wielded by the government and how the erosion of the legal principles we hold dear–such as habeas corpus and the prohibition against self-incrimination–is destroying the presumption of innocence. A new introduction and new chapters cover recent marquee cases and make this provocative book essential reading for anyone who cringes at the thought of unbridled state power and sees our civil liberties slowly slipping away in the name of the War on Drugs, the War on Crime, and the War on Terror.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Tranny of good intentions May 26, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
Tranny of good intentions was a ground-breaking Danish movie that blurred the borders between pornography and Kierkegaard's moral philosophy... It is surprising to see the title changed by a "y" but, nonetheless, very encouraging to read "good intentions" as a motivation description of the "sheeple", the "evil government" and the other enemies of the "trufers"... Mr Roberts' creation shines with unintentional ironies and unforeseen vignettes of simplistic brilliance...
 Yet Another hysterical Anti-Bush diatribe from Roberts May 3, 2008
0 out of 10 found this review helpful
Roberts sure has gotten a lot of mileage from his incessant mentioning of his small part in the Reagan administration. Surely if Ronnie must be turning over in his grave at reviewing Roberts' recent articles.
Roberts hates Bush so obsessively, he desires any catastrophic on American people so that he can blame unfortunate events on Bush.
One of the most repulsive articles he has written was a letter to Islamic terrorists,, essentially instructing them to create the most destruction on the USA by doing anything it can to destroy the US dollar. Great,, Roberts is coaching terrorists on how to hurt the US$ in order to hurt Bush. Problem with that is it will hurt many millions of innocent Americans,,ones that Roberts clearly does not care about in his pathetic endeavor to hurt Bush as much as possible.
He's a certified lunatic. He is constantly ranting.
What's Roberts going to do after Jan 2009? Stop writing the garbage he writes? I CERTAINLY HOPE SO!
If anyone should be tried for TREASON its Roberts!
 Excellent overview of how the Constitution is being subverted by bureaucrats and legislators April 23, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
The basic theme of this book is that the rule of law is being subverted by legislators who grant far too much authority to regulators who are beyond reach of the voter. The result is that the essence of Constitutional law is lost. One grievous example, which is not mentioned in the book, but serves as an illustration is Roe v. Wade. This Supreme Court decision removed a highly contentious argument from the people, acting through their various state legislators, and created judge made law. Judges who are not elected by the people.
"The Tyranny Of Good Intentions" sticks to lower ground. For example, the Housing and Urban Affairs Department attempted to suppress the First Amendment rights of people protesting the creation of a taxpayer-funded homeless shelter in their neighborhood. HUD didn't want any opposition - and sought to silence its critics. Another example is how Netscape Corporation, unable to succeed in the marketplace, was able to sic the law on its more able competitor, Microsoft Corporation. Thus the law was perverted to serve private desires under the flag of public interest.
The authors maintain that "[t]he Constitution has been lost in poor teaching and the legal profession's accomomodation to unaccountable power". Constitutional law, the authors say, has been trivialized - and they provide many examples to support their contention. They claim that the United States today is ruled by bureaucrats who make law under broadly delegated powers and by judges who legislate an tax from the bench. The original American Republic they say is lost - and if the people don't reclaim their power - worse is to come.
The book is essentially non-partisan and any American who reveres the Constitution and its promises should take notice.
[...]
A Pathetic Polemic December 15, 2006
8 out of 33 found this review helpful
Great title. I sought this book as potential source material for one I'm writing about documented cases of police and prosecutorial misconduct.
Unfortunately, this book's content commits the worst crimes attributed to its targets: broadbrush accusations and biased conclusions without evidence, half-truths, mis-statements of facts and outright lies.
In short, these authors have committed a frame-up almost as egregious as instances where authorities have actually railroaded an innocent citizen into prison.
The sad fact is, with a little hard work and honest research, these academic fellows could have written a book that used facts to make it credible.
Since they didn't, I will.
Excellent exposition of the problem March 24, 2006
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
This book discusses the tyranny of big government. Although some of the reviewers argue that tyranny is not a left-right issue, the fact remains that bigger government usually creates greater potential for abuse. Both the so-called Republicans and Democrats are both pretty much statists these days in favor of big government and this book exposes the rampant abuses of the system that has been slowly put into place here in the U.S.
For example, they call attention to the drug war as a chief source of lost liberties for Americans. The drug war led to asset forfeiture laws which deprive people of property interests without due process of the law. Many of the people who lose property are never even convicted of any drug-related crime. The whole concept of asset forfeiture is a sham whereby, the state can proceed against the property instead of the person and therefore claim that the issue is a civil matter instead of a criminal one. This is important because many of the important rights afforded to criminals do not apply in this case because the proceeding is characterized as a civil action against the property or thing that offends. Yet, the property against which the action is filed belongs to someone and that someone stands to lose a property right or interest but because of legal trickery they are afforded no protections afforded to criminals such as the right to an attorney, the right to a jury trial, and many others.
Also, the civil forfeiture laws lead to police corruption because the police have an interest in seizing property since they get the proceeds from whatever is seized. This book does a good job of exposing how government is everyday infringing more of our individual rights in the name of good causes -- the drug war and all the rest. But, as the maxim states, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I wonder if some of the other readers even read the book because they claim that the authors attempt to defend the elite and to me it seems they are doing just the opposite: exposing how the elite has stripped the average citizen of his or her rights in the pursuit of material gain. The book also speaks to the torture of prisoners and other issues that seem to come up repeatedly with the current administration.
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