A MINORITY VIEW BY WALTER E. WILLIAMS

Needs of a Civil Society

        The people of Oklahoma City suffered an unspeakable tragedy 
last week. It was  a cowardly act worthy of national condemnation, and 
the perpetrators must be  punished to the fullest extent of the law. 
Civil authorities, who made quick work of  capturing at least one of 
the villains, and all the Americans who pitched in to help are  to be 
commended. As we sift through the rubble of this terrorist act, we must 
ask  whether it's an omen for our future or an isolated act of an evil
person.
        Civility is fragile. Its maintenance requires rule of law, 
respect for private  property and, above all, limited government. 
History is full of examples of how easily  civility can unravel and how 
decent people can become barbarians themselves or  become sympathizers 
to barbaric acts. We need only look at Germany, Ireland or Sri  Lanka. 
For close to a half century, our nation has been trashing the rule of 
law and  constitutional principles. As a result, we have been creating 
widespread legitimate  anger and a climate for incivility.
        Hotheads, kooks and provocateurs never get far by themselves. 
To be effective  in recruitment, they must be able to appeal to and 
exploit legitimate grievances of the  ordinary citizen. Congress, 
acting on the behalf of interest groups, has been creating  large 
numbers of decent Americans with legitimate grievances. These are 
people who  find, and accurately so, that neither Congress nor the 
courts afford them protection or  redress against the heavy-handed 
injustices of government. Here are just a few  examples of the injustices:
        In Oliver vs. United States (1984), the Supreme Court held that 
governmental  "intrusion upon open fields is not (an) unreasonable 
search proscribed by the text of  the Fourth Amendment." Therefore, the 
highest court in the land has sanctioned the  Environmental Protection 
Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and other agencies to  trespass upon 
private property.
        Marinus Van Leuzen, age 74, of Port Bolivar, Texas, filled in 
an unsightly  mosquito-infested pool of water on his quarter-acre lot 
upon which his house sat.  Federal District Judge Samuel Kenton found 
Leuzen guilty of destroying wetlands and  ordered him to restore the 
pool of water (now it's covered with algae and scum), plus  pay a $350 
monthly fine. Using the Chinese communist tool of forced public  
confession, Judge Kenton ordered Leuzen to erect a billboard on his 
property  acknowledging his guilt.
        The Corps of Engineers brought successful suit against Robert 
Brace, a third- generation Waterford, Pa., farmer, for destroying 
wetlands. Brace had removed debris  created by beavers building a dam 
from a drainage ditch on his farm. Brace is now  subject to hundreds of 
thousands of dollars in fines, jail and loss of his farm.
        Other legitimate grievances without recourse are the civil 
seizures of the  property of innocent people in open disregard of the 
Fifth Amendment. The  Endangered Species Act allows dangerous predators 
to roam ranches, killing stock  and sometimes killing or injuring 
people. Then there's government-mandated race  and sex discrimination 
under the euphemism affirmative action.
        Literally thousands of other examples can be found where 
law-abiding, decent  Americans have legitimate grievances without 
recourse. If we are to lower the level of  anger, frustration and 
resentment, and defuse the potential for more people to take up  arms 
and become ready recruits for fringe groups, we must demand a return to 
the rule  of law and constitutional government. I'm afraid we're going 
to do just the opposite in  the wake of the Oklahoma City disaster: 
call for more gun control and wage a  propaganda war against hundreds 
of thousands of America's militia members.

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