CNN's Toobin Says Garner Death Was Because of a 'Quality of Life Crime'

Does the phrase “quality of life crime” scare the hell out of you? It should. It’s the liberals’ pretense for criminalizing personal choices and introducing an element of force into an otherwise victimless activity or “crime.”

Witness CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Toobin denies that the state’s greedy mandate to collect predatory cigarette taxes had anything to do with the death of Eric Garner, who was killed on video while five police officers restrained him for selling untaxed cigarettes.

Instead, Toobin says it’s a “misreading” of the situation to blame taxes; he says Garner was killed because of excessive force used by the police. And Toobin points out there is a purpose to the cigarette tax, which is to dissuade people from smoking — which kills people. Just like selling untaxed cigarettes, apparently.

It is grossly naive to believe that the state can handle high-pressure, unpredictable situations by releasing armed individuals (the police) backed by insurmountable government power to hunt down citizens without any risk of violent “accidents” happening. How about minimizing  citizen/police interactions by getting rid of idiot “quality of life” taxes rather than crippling the police in case they really need an option of force?

Toobin took a shot at Senator Rand Paul’s comment that Garner was killed because of the cigarette tax. According to Toobin, the senator just doesn’t understand that the tax is there to stop people from smoking.  Toobin complains Paul “didn’t even discuss that.” I suspect the senator knows exactly what the purpose of the tax is and he rejects it. (Of course, I don’t speak for the senator.)

It’s time to get rid of “quality of life” crimes. Everybody wins when big government gets as far out of the private citizen’s business as possible; that is the way to really stop much of these violent interactions that result in the death of both police officers and private individuals.  It’s not the government’s job to make you a “good person” or a “healthy person” or a person with the “right beliefs.”

Watch the video on the next page.