Selective enforcement is the real power government and police wield over the common person. If the laws were fairly enforced, against everyone, equally, citizens and law enforcement would be on more common ground.
Instead, the breadth of laws on the books is far too wide for the average person to understand, with many of them vague enough to cast any person a criminal at any time. So those who have the power to cast down these punishments make deals. And the power to make those deals is where they derive this power. Do this, they say, and we won't throw the book at you. But defy us, and we have all manner of perfectly legal tools we can use against you.
American criminal law is rooted in intent. There is a strong element of selective enforcement in the process, but it's by design. The flip side of selective enforcement to jerk someone around is being able to not punish someone whose conduct falls within the letter of the law, but who didn't have criminal intent.
The examples play fast and loose with the facts and the law. In the first example, the page leaves out a lot of the facts: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2000/November/647enrd.htm. The defendants imported $4m of undersized and egg-bearing lobster tails in violation of multiple state and federal laws, and took measures to conceal the action showing their criminal intent. The page makes it seem like they were convicted based on one vague statute.
The second example leaves out the fact that the driver was fined only $75. The law in this case is very sensible: it's illegal to operate a motor vehicle in a Federal Wilderness Area. The driver did, even if he did only because there was a blizzard. Ironically, the page seems to have a beef here with the lack of selective enforcement!
Aren't there many new laws nowadays where there is strict liability, intent is not needed? And on top of that there is the entire section of negligence law, with no intent by definition, which is easier than you think to get caught in.
There are strict liability violations, but they tend to be things like traffic ordinances, not felonies. For example driving a motor vehicle in a wilderness is a strict liability offense, though its a misdemeanor punishable potentially by jail time. I think those are very troubling, and I'm against jail time for any non-violent crime, but they're not that pervasive.
But lots of otherwise troubling laws aren't strict liability. E.g. Child pornography possession requires knowledge of both possession and its status as child pornography. Drug laws are generally not strict liability.
Negligence law is civil, not criminal, except to the extent that reckless disregard is a state of mind satisfying intent requirements for a few limited gross negligence crimes (e.g. Locking the doors of a tightly packed nightclub).
“Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against—then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there it that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of lawbreakers—and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”
Instead, the breadth of laws on the books is far too wide for the average person to understand, with many of them vague enough to cast any person a criminal at any time. So those who have the power to cast down these punishments make deals. And the power to make those deals is where they derive this power. Do this, they say, and we won't throw the book at you. But defy us, and we have all manner of perfectly legal tools we can use against you.