Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

July 5, 2010

Amid a deepening depression, California?s Shasta County Sheriff?s Office has laid off ten percent of its personnel, scaled back nighttime patrols, and released scores of inmates from the local jail. Yet several months ago, Sheriff Tom Bosenko spent $340,000 to create special team to tramp through the local woods in search of marijuana plants.

That amount was spent in an effort to attract a half-million dollars in federal anti-marijuana subsidies.

The Wall Street Journal notes that federal subsidies have often skewed the priorities of local law enforcement bodies. Current budget crises ?are enhancing this effect, and the result is particularly striking in California, where many residents take a benign view of pot but federal dollars help keep law-enforcement focused on it.?

While Sheriff Bosenko?s task force runs up overtime collecting pot plants, crimes against persons and property are on the rise in Shasta County. The same trends can be seen elsewhere as cash-starved police and sheriff?s departments become full-fledged affiliates of the federal Homeland Security State.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.