LETTER: Government fails to enforce many laws
To the editor:
David Jenkins quotes a couple of past presidents in his commentary calling for the prosecution of Cliven Bundy, for the rancher’s resistance to the Bureau of Land Management (“It’s time to hold Bundy accountable for standoff,” Tuesday Review-Journal). President John Adams wrote that we are a nation of laws. President Teddy Roosevelt said laws must be enforced with resolute firmness. Mr. Jenkins seems to be lost in the past.
Today, we are a nation of laws enforced only as desired by those currently in power in Washington, D.C. Some laws are enforced, others are ignored, and some are enforced only against those opposed to the policies of federal government leaders. Examples of this lack of respect for the law are numerous. Homeland Security is illegally failing to deport huge numbers of undocumented immigrants. The IRS illegally releases taxpayer information to political allies of the president and illegally and indefinitely delays approval of nonprofit status to organizations opposing the current administration.
Bureaucrats appointed by the administration lie under oath in congressional hearings, without consequence. Cabinet secretaries violate national security regulations without fear of being held accountable.
It is hard to justify the prosecution of Mr. Bundy fighting to keep his 100-year-old grazing rights when laws are so openly and frequently violated by those whose job it is to enforce them.
JIM BROWN
NORTH LAS VEGAS
