Our government has spun out of control. It has deviated extremely from what it is supposed to be; namely, a republican form of government with a limited government – not a boundless control-freaks.
Our law enforcement agencies on all levels may claim they are republicans and that they subscribe to a republican form of government, but that is a flawed illusion, as they have grown their organization to constitute approximately half of the local budgets.
That is completely ridiculous, especially in Charlotte County where the crime rate is among the lowest in all of Florida, given the fact that more than half of the population is 65 years and older.
Just Finding Something to Do to Make Money for the Government
We have come to a point where our law enforcement has so little real crime to deal with – compared to many other counties – that they have nothing to do but to sit on the side of the road and bust people for the very same “crimes” that law enforcement commit themselves on a daily basis, such as, running red lights, speeding, not coming to a full stop, malfunctioning headlights, screwing around on their digital devices, and cutting across painted medians.
Every day our law enforcement officers – with maybe the exception of the broken headlights – commit these very same traffic offenses. Yet, they are never held accountable and never held to the same standards.
How often do you not see cops parked on the painted medians or on the grass medians waiting to bust someone?
How often do you not see cops running red lights? – and oh, yes, that sure does happen.
How often do you not see cops changing lanes without signaling? – Oh, yes, that happen a lot.
How often do you not see cops making illegal u-turns? All the damn time!
Parents are supposed to set an example for their children. It’s a simple rule when raising children. But those basic life skills and rules of thumb are not practiced by our law enforcement. They have been given a green light to go after anyone and make money for the county and state.
We Could Cut the Budget In Half And Save Tax Dollars
The Chief of North Port Police Department, in a conversation with him last year, told me that – and this supposedly is the case for Charlotte County PD as well – that 95% of NPPD’s work is responding to accidents and traffic violations and issuing citations.
That’s insane!
Our tax dollars literally are spent on slamming us with fines to make money for the county and state.
That is what a totalitarian police state does. That is not a limited government, a republican form of government.
Here are some statistical facts:
Current estimates place Charlotte County’s violent crime rate at roughly 1.7 violent crimes per 1,000 residents per year – translation: 170–175 per 100,000 people – which is considered very low compared to many parts of Florida and the national average.
According to CrimeGrade’s 2025 analysis, Charlotte County ranks in the 95th percentile for safety, meaning it is considered safer than about 95% of U.S. counties for violent crime. Why? Because the majority of the population is retired.
Breakdown estimates from the same data source include approximately:
- Assault: 1.17 per 1,000 residents
- Robbery: 0.20 per 1,000
- Rape/Sexual assault: 0.35 per 1,000
- Murder: 0.006 per 1,000 residents
So, why in the he!! is the budget for law enforcement astronomically high? Don’t give me this nonsense about, “the reason crimes are low here is because our police department is huge.” No, it’s because of the demographics in Charlotte County.
Green In the Face from Nausea
In Charlotte County, and for that matter in North Port too, you find yourself looking over your shoulder all the time because you know just around the corner there’s sneaky joe sitting there waiting to bust you for something ridiculous, so he or she can report “the numbers”.
In all the years I have lived in the U.S., this is a time, unlike any other in the history of this country, when we can rightfully say we have lost the republic to a police state.
I have always supported law enforcement in all the other places in the U.S. I have lived, but when government control and excessive policing make you green in the face from nausea, there is something wrong with the path we are on to a dictatorship.
It is not about safety. It’s about revenue.
The government does not produce anything. The government makes money on taxation and fee income, robbing the people financially completely unconstitutionally.
The day that law enforcement is held to the same standards they fine others for is the day they can be proud of what they do.
I don’t care if the sheriffs and police officers are registered republicans. That means absolutely nothing if what they practice aligns with that of a Marxist totalitarian police state. They cannot use the BS excuse that “we’re just doing our job”. The Brown Shirts under Hitler said the same thing, while killing upward 11 million people, and persecuting even more.
That does not make me anti-police. It simply means I firmly believe they must practice what they preach and not be positioned above the law.
For those who may now wrongfully accuse me of being leftist in my views, know that you are dead-wrong. I fully support a LIMITED GOVERNMENT and a republican form of government, which is what the U.S. Constitution is supposed to give us, but which has been violated profoundly by power-grabbers.
The Fall of the Republic
In the twenty-seven years I have lived in the United States, I have observed a dramatic change for the worse.
We are not a free society anymore.
We are not land of the free anymore.
We are not based on a republican form of limited government anymore.
We are not a country where law enforcement is there to “serve and protect.” In fact, that motto has been taken off their vehicles. Pay attention to this change.
We are not a society where you are innocent until proven guilty. On the contrary, an attitude of “guilty until proven innocent” has been adopted, just like in European countries (all leftist governments too).
Oh, and worse: traffic judges are in place to ensure the state and county make money too, so good luck trying to reason with them and get them on your side. They will almost exclusively stand with the traffic cops and ensure the state and county makes millions – billions – of dollars in collection of fines, while you struggle to pay your bills and put food on the table.
We cannot be proud of the boundless government that has replaced a limited government, as the Founding Fathers set up for us.
We are barely a republic anymore because we have failed tragically to keep it, as Benjamin Franklin warned us about. We are a banana republic.
How Do We Change That?
Support candidates who seek to reduce the government budget.
Support candidates who are dependable and complete the duties they were elected to do, not jumping ships to promote themselves.
Support candidates who vote NO to increasing the salaries and benefits of law enforcement officers, who already make more than the average wage earner in the county.
Support candidates who are not in bed with the unions and special interest groups.
Support candidates who do not stand with law enforcement inside activists who try to intimidate – female – elected officials who vote NO to raising salaries and pensions completely out of line with inflation rates. By the way, non-government workers do not get raises that align with inflation. They just suffer.
Support candidates who vote/voted NO to funding more extravagant government building projects, like new supervisor of election or police headquarters – sadly already a done deal and you will pay for this monstrosity for years.
Support candidates who are fiscally conservative and not focused on kissing a$$ to gain votes in their campaign of self-service promotion.
Support candidates who apply the basic republican principle: asking the question always, How does this bill serve and benefit the people, not the expanding government?
When the government has grown too big – as it is now – it’s time to defund it and take back to country to a true republican form of limited government, , unapologetically..
by Karina Schmitt