While Swartz' death is incredibly tragic and the prosecutors were no doubt overreaching, it isn't as simple as a quick "You're fired" to solve things.
First, prosecutorial overreach is common. Because it's so common, at the most, the DOJ will issue those involved a warning. Don't expect that to change unless people actively fight to prevent it.
Second, plea bargaining is morally wrong, either way you look at it. So is piling on charges to get the defendant to ACCEPT the plea bargain. Many countries have actually outlawed plea bargaining because of the fact. People need to take a stand to outlaw plea bargaining.
And lastly, a very disturbing trend -- have you noticed, has anyone noticed, that all the laws that continue to pass limit the rights of THE PEOPLE while continuing to extend the rights of the government? Now, I don't know how much I slept in 7th grade history, but I'm pretty sure that most amendments to the Constitution, and the laws and guidelines outlined by the Constitution itself were meant to limit the rights of THE GOVERNMENT rather than the people. You can see examples of this government overreach everywhere.
Drones.
The PATRIOT Act.
The NDAA.
Gun control (do you really think the government will stop at assault weapons?).
Congress supporting RIAA and MPAA.
DRM.
Extension of copyrights.
I could go on and on with examples, but I'll stop here. Wasting time on bipartisan politics will not help. The people have been so hypnotized by bipartisan politics that they think the situation is only black or white.
It isn't. There's an infinite number of shades of gray.
The root cause is not liberalism or conservatism. It's the nature of government itself.
An idealistic world would mean that everyone contributed to society equally. Everyone would be paid equally. Everyone would have an equal amount of everything, although . All knowledge would be shared with everyone, and no secrets would be kept between others. There would be no government and the people would rule themselves by direct democracy. Call it communism/anarchism if you wish, but it's idealism. Right now, our government is as far away from that vision as could be.
Maybe it's time we pushed for more freedom and less restriction. Perhaps then prosecution wouldn't be so quick to swing their heavy hand.
First, prosecutorial overreach is common. Because it's so common, at the most, the DOJ will issue those involved a warning. Don't expect that to change unless people actively fight to prevent it.
Second, plea bargaining is morally wrong, either way you look at it. So is piling on charges to get the defendant to ACCEPT the plea bargain. Many countries have actually outlawed plea bargaining because of the fact. People need to take a stand to outlaw plea bargaining.
And lastly, a very disturbing trend -- have you noticed, has anyone noticed, that all the laws that continue to pass limit the rights of THE PEOPLE while continuing to extend the rights of the government? Now, I don't know how much I slept in 7th grade history, but I'm pretty sure that most amendments to the Constitution, and the laws and guidelines outlined by the Constitution itself were meant to limit the rights of THE GOVERNMENT rather than the people. You can see examples of this government overreach everywhere.
Drones.
The PATRIOT Act.
The NDAA.
Gun control (do you really think the government will stop at assault weapons?).
Congress supporting RIAA and MPAA.
DRM.
Extension of copyrights.
I could go on and on with examples, but I'll stop here. Wasting time on bipartisan politics will not help. The people have been so hypnotized by bipartisan politics that they think the situation is only black or white.
It isn't. There's an infinite number of shades of gray.
The root cause is not liberalism or conservatism. It's the nature of government itself.
An idealistic world would mean that everyone contributed to society equally. Everyone would be paid equally. Everyone would have an equal amount of everything, although . All knowledge would be shared with everyone, and no secrets would be kept between others. There would be no government and the people would rule themselves by direct democracy. Call it communism/anarchism if you wish, but it's idealism. Right now, our government is as far away from that vision as could be.
Maybe it's time we pushed for more freedom and less restriction. Perhaps then prosecution wouldn't be so quick to swing their heavy hand.