Costs without Benefits | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Costs without Benefits | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "No individual can know the vast number of laws and regulations to which he is subject, and hence, the government (if it chooses) can target anyone and almost certainly be able to find some law or rule that the targeted person has violated. According to Thomas Jefferson, the U.S. Constitution only gave Congress the power to punish criminally 'treason, counterfeiting the securities and coin of the United States, piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the laws of nations, and no other crimes whatsoever.' Yet the federal criminal code contains thousands of pages, making it impossible for individuals to know all of the violations for which they may be sent to jail."