Even at that, the meaning of some apparent triumphs is unclear. The IRS s collapse may be merely a PR ploy to prepare the way for yet another giant federal tax system. The number of wiretaps is soaring, cell phones have been mandated into tracking devices, the CIA admits to backing snoop technology firms, and the FBI has announced numerous initiatives to spy upon the innocent and guilty alike. And regulatory proposals are still coming at us like something from a John Carpenter movie. The drug war still rampages on, having ravaged lives, property rights and the ideal of honest law enforcement beyond repair.
Prison populations continue to bloat.
Prison populations continue to bloat. If Congress didn t act against gun-rights, the executive branch did. Though entitled by law to go on selling when the instant background check database is unreachable, dealers are too terrified of federal enforcers to do so. And the Clinton administration has used federal clout and lawsuits to pressure, if not cripple, the firearms industry. The courts have already held, in Paladin Press s Hit Man case, that the mere act of selling a book to a stranger can be culpable.