John, The sheriff is supposed to be an elected office because the Sheriff is the highest law enforcement power in his/her county, outranking municipal, State and even federal law enforcement. Your Sheriff has the legal authority to tell the feds and the State to “get the fuck out” of his/her county “and don’t come back”! Your Sheriff is the most important elective office for which you vote and if your Sheriff is not elected (but is appointed or hired) it is well past time you and the rest of your county make that change. Your Sheriff is the last wall of defense for your county from the government.

Blah blah blah, vote vote vote.

Get a f***ing clue, voting does not make a good Goddamn bit of difference. So keep voting and and wasting your time and expecting things to change. Voting is how we f***ing got here.

Within this play is an american character, a writer, visiting decadent, frenetic Berlin circa 1938, who befriends Lisa’s character. He is eventually forced to flee Germany just prior to Germany attacking Poland & the start of WWII.

I have been pondering the similarities with the USA, circa 2011. If I visited now it would actually resemble a mix of Nazi Germany leavened with shades of the Weimar republic, the hyper inflation, growth of police state, loss of citizen rights etc.

Light on the hill? No. It is a pyre for freedom. Requiescet in pace.

I think I’ll stay right here…

http://bit.ly/special-report-county-sheriffs-push-back
Website: http://CountySheriffProject.org/
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/County-Sheriff-Project

I appreciate both of your comments regarding the role of the sheriff in the U.S.. I live in IL, and the sheriff’s office is essentially the default law enforcement body if no others exist.

More and more I believe that municipal police departments are forces which overregulate inhabitants of cities/towns/villiages. As the city gets bigger, the more the municipal police must have their hands in everything (more traffic and parking enforcement, an endless array of ordinances, etc). Naturally, much of this overregulation produces revenue, which gives city hall more cash to add still more layers of bureacracy. But remember: The municipal police enforce the exact same laws that sheriff’s deputies enforce. Thus, I see redundancy here that could stand to be eliminated.

If government did not enable criminal black markets by outlawing (some) drugs, prostitution, etc, then I believe crime would drop quite dramatically in our society, particularly violent crime. At that point, I believe it would be feasible for most areas to abolish their municipal policing bodies. In contrast to John C. Randolph’s idea, I think that some of these deputies should still be full time (At least initially. Who knows what will happen.). But there should also be a significant number of volunteers on call.

Incidentally, I have served as an auxiliary officer with a small p.d. in my area. I have also considered signing up as an auxiliary deputy with my local sheriff’s office. Even though I have major, major issues with U.S. law enforcement, I believe that these volunteer units are important reminders that law enforcement and emergency response are the community’s responsibility, not just the job of a few select “professionals.” Such units are also a good deal for taxpayers. It discourages the full-timers from becoming overtime whores.

Thanks again to Windy and JCR for bringing this up.

I was so much happier before the Internet, and discovering the Agitator.

But even back then, I knew then that the mainsteam media was delivering their version of the “news” to me according to a pre-determined agenda.

How’s that working out for you now, CBS, NBC, ABC and PBS?

I knew that CNN stood for Clinton News Network, because of their bias.

How’s that working out for you now, CNN?

I knew that TV personality Larry King asked loaded, biased questions of people he disagreed with philosophically, and interrupted them repeatedly every few seconds in order to intentionally make them appear to be….an idiot.

On the other hand, if someone like Hillary Clinton or Anita Hill appeared on his program, he let them talk at length, without frequent interruptions, and the questions were all softball questions.

Good riddance, Larry.

I knew that Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson, Campbell Brown, John Roberts, Larry King, Keith Olbermann, Kathleen Parker, and Rick Sanchez were not ethical journalists, but were rather consummately biased advocates advancing their and their masters agenda.

Hows that working out for them, now?

Really, the only way bloodless way to reign in the ever growing police state tactics is to legalize possession and usage of any drugs. All of them.

That would substantially defang the pretext by which police and SWAT teams raid homes, seize assets, brutalize and terrorize residents, and kill puppies with impunity.

Windy is technically correct…

If the feds are engaged in a criminal investigation where the state also has venue (aka jurisdiction) as well, then the state or the Sheriff can tell the feds to get bent…

The feds then, must convince both a state and a federal judge why the case must remain under federal jurisdiction. Which will also give the state a chance to rebut the feds case.

This has only happened once regarding a drug case, but has happened more recently regarding illegal immigration cases in AZ, TX and NM…

Under the US Constitution the state have far more power than the federal .gov, infact the states have the power to dissolve the federal .gov… by calling for and seating a Constitutional Convention. And the federal .gov is powerless to stop them once 2/3 of the state vote to seat.

Under all 57 state Constitutions the elected sheriff is the highest law enforcement official, because not all state allow for the election of an Attorney General, many are appointed by the sitting governor.

Uhh…I seriously doubt this. Citation needed.