We’re All Accidental Criminals

President Biden just granted clemency to more people in one day than any modern president. 

He pardoned 39 people and commuted the sentences of around 1,500 more—most for nonviolent offenses. 

While this gesture acknowledges the need for second chances (which I believe in!), it also points to a troubling reality: our justice system is bursting at the seams with people who shouldn’t be there in the first place. 

How did we even get here? 

The truth is, most of us are committing multiple crimes every single day without even realizing it. 

Seriously. 

Civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate argues in his book Three Felonies a Day that the average American unknowingly violates federal law several times daily. 

When you think of it that way, it becomes pretty clear that the problem isn’t that we’re a nation of bad actors—it’s that we’re drowning in laws and regulations so convoluted and numerous that even lawyers can’t keep them straight. 

Did you know it’s illegal in some places to collect rainwater on your own property? 

Or that in others, selling homemade jam without a permit will land you in hot water?

You could be fined for walking your dog without a license, but don’t skip his walk because that’s illegal too.  

How many of us could be arrested for unknowingly “violating” a rule hidden deep in a stack of local ordinances?

Likely all of us. 

We have over 5,000 federal criminal laws on the books and more than 300,000 regulations carrying criminal penalties. Congress adds about 55 new “crimes” each year, and that’s not even counting state and local laws. 

No wonder you can’t make it through the week without accidentally becoming a criminal!

Basically, the only thing standing between most of us and a lengthy, expensive fight to prove our innocence is our dependence on the state choosing not to apply the law. 

And that’s pretty scary to me. I don’t want the only thing standing between me and an arrest to be the benevolence of some cop or judge in choosing not to arrest or charge me for violating a silly regulation.

It almost seems like they’ve created so many laws, so that they’ll have an excuse to arrest anyone, at any time, should the “need” arise. 

There I go… sounding like a crazy conspiracy theorist again. 

Ha. 

This labyrinth of rules has serious consequences. The United States incarcerates more people than any other nation on earth—more than China, Russia, or any other so-called “authoritarian” regime. 

Our prison system is overflowing, and nearly half of those imprisoned are serving time for nonviolent offenses.

This culture of criminalization turns regular people into “lawbreakers” just for living their lives. And worse, it empowers bureaucrats to micromanage nearly every aspect of our daily existence—eroding our freedom one rule or regulation at a time. 

In The Tuttle Twins and the Leviathan Crisis, Ethan and Emily learn how governments grow large and powerful by taking advantage of one so-called crisis after another—forever ratcheting up government involvement in our daily lives, piling on laws and penalties, until they become an all-powerful force that we can’t escape.

It’s a story that helps kids (and adults) understand the dangers of a government that thinks its job is to control every corner of society instead of protecting individual rights. 

So what’s the solution?

For starters, we need to recognize how broken the system is and stop trusting it to fix itself. The government isn’t going to shrink on its own—just like it’s not going to stop passing laws that make criminals out of innocent people.

It’s on us to push back, to teach our kids the principles of freedom, and to show them how to navigate a world where Leviathan has gotten way too big for its britches. 

This book will spark some important conversations with your kids about the balance between liberty and law—and how to protect their freedoms from a government that seems hell-bent on creating a nation of prisoners rather than protecting the rights of free people.

Remember that today is the last day to order if you want your books in time for Christmas! So if you’ve been hoping to snag some Tuttle Twins for stocking stuffing, or for under the tree, be sure you head to checkout before midnight!

I hope my kids will get to live in a world where they can live their lives without fear of unjust punishment or prosecution.

That hope starts with giving them an education they won’t get from the government. 

And I can’t think of a better gift than that.

— Connor