

Death in China Stirs Anger Over Urban Rule Enforcers - danso
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/world/asia/death-in-china-stirs-anger-over-urban-rule-enforcers.html?hp&_r=0

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ferdo
> “This is in fact a metaphor for today’s China, where the state is seizing
> property everywhere through a variety of means,” Mr. Li wrote. “Businessmen
> lose their enterprises and are thrown into prison; an anonymous vendor loses
> his watermelons. Sometimes it’s the urban management officers that seize the
> property. Sometimes it’s the court, or the bank, or the unpredictable
> policies.”

Not much different from the US, iow.

~~~
kiba
Fairly sure that the US have fairly low level of low level corruption and high
level of political corruptions. If you offer a bribe to a police officer in
the US, I am sure that 90% of the time, they would just haul you to jail.

The fact that insane prosecutions against people is occuring is probably a
result of our democratic institution's perverse incentives("TOUGH ON CRIME",
"3 STRIKES LAW", "THINK OF THE CHILDREN") and lack of forethought and
rationality on the part of the electorate.

------
danso
In the recent HN discussion about whether the Department of Homeland Security
should be abolished...some commenters wondered why that would be any
improvement compared to moving its components into other existing
Departments...bureaucratic details aside, I think one thing that DHS has going
_against_ it is its paramilitary nature that is not quite military, not quite
FBI, and sometimes literally, just some guy with a badge feeling you up at the
airport...and that is why some people think it's more reasonable to just do
away with the DHS, even if its components are preserved (and keep the same
authority and deadly force to enforce laws and security)

It's that lack of "real" authority that makes DHS seem less desirable than its
parts being moved into "real" departments.

In other words...think of your reaction when a police officer has a gun in
your face telling you to place your hands slowly where he can see them...and a
mall cop who is bellowing at you to put your hands in the air "or else". The
former situation is _materially_ less pleasant, but you may psychologically be
OK with it because "the cop is doing his job and cops put their lives on the
line, and also, he has the power of the Law behind him, and, Law & Order is a
great show"...whereas with the mall cop, your life is never in danger and yet
you have contempt with someone trying to assert authority in his small
pathetic world.

With DHS (in some people's opinion), and seemingly, these Chinese rule
enforcers, you could have the worst of both worlds...a poorly trained
government official who oversteps his very limited authority _and_ yet has the
ability to ruin your life, legally.

