So, You Want To Overthrow The Government? Please Fill Out This Form

Apparently South Carolina is trying to remake itself as the "Criminal Paperwork State". It already has laws on the books that levy additional punishments on drug dealers that don't report income from their illegal activities. Now they have passed a law that is equal parts headscratchingly laughable and heartbreakingly naive.

The state's "Subversive Activities Registration Act," passed last year and now officially on the books, states that "every member of a subversive organization, or an organization subject to foreign control, every foreign agent and every person who advocates, teaches, advises or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States ... shall register with the Secretary of State."

There's even a $5 filing fee.

I have no idea what this law is supposed to accomplish. Groups that want to overthrow the government aren't going to announce the fact or respect said government enough to bother with a forms and filing fees. I'd love to find an interview with the author(s) of this legislation.


(Crossposted from Say Anything)