Posted on 06/29/2004 9:27:45 AM PDT by ksen
Police state, ho!
by John Whitehead
6/28/04
With each passing day, America is inching further down a slippery slope toward a police state. Soon, we’ll have picked up so much momentum that there will be no turning back.
Incredibly, not too many people appear concerned. Bombarded by media images and a mind-numbing entertainment culture, people seem to be so distracted that they do not even realize that our civil liberties are slowly and stealthily eroding away.
Yet the signs of a police state are everywhere. They have infiltrated all aspects of our lives, from the mundane to the downright oppressive. We were once a society that valued individual liberty and privacy. But in recent years we have turned into a culture that has quietly accepted surveillance cameras at traffic lights and in common public areas, drug-sniffing dogs in our children’s schools, national databases that track our finances and activities, sneak-and-peek searches of our homes without our knowledge or consent and anti-terrorism laws that turn average Americans into suspected criminals.
In our post-9/11 world, government officials have effectively used terror and fear to subdue any public resistance to legislation like the Patriot Act, which embodies the heavy-handed empowering of government intrusion into our lives. Our police officers have become armed militias, instead of the civilian peacekeepers they were intended to be. Now, even average citizens—those that should have nothing to fear or worry about—are becoming unwitting targets of a government seemingly at war with its own people. Understandably, fear and paranoia rule the day.
Now with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada, we have reached yet another milepost on our journey to a police state. A majority of the high court agreed that refusing to answer when a policeman asks “What’s your name?” can rightfully be considered a crime under Nevada’s “stop and identify” statute. Nineteen other states already have similar laws on their books. No longer will Americans, even those not suspected of or charged with any crime, have the right to remain silent when stopped and questioned by a police officer.
The case arose after Larry D. Hiibel, a Nevada cattle rancher, was arrested and convicted on a misdemeanor after refusing to tell his name or show identification to a sheriff's deputy. By requiring individuals to identify themselves on pain of arrest, this ruling turns Americans innocent of any wrongdoing into immediate suspects. Indeed, it is hard to ignore the similarity to the police states found in countries like China and North Korea. It can only be a matter of time before we are required to carry identification at all times. With all the talk of digital chips and national IDs, it may not even be so far-fetched to think that someday our slightest movements will be tracked by government satellites.
We are fast becoming the police state that Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tx.) warned against in his June 2002 address to the House of Representatives. His words painted a chilling portrait of a nation willingly allowing itself to be monitored, tracked, fingerprinted and controlled. “Personal privacy, the sine qua non of liberty, no longer exists in the United States. Ruthless and abusive use of all this information accumulated by the government is yet to come.”
“It’s the responsibility of all of us to speak the truth to our best ability,” cautioned Paul, “and if there are reservations about what we’re doing, we should sound an alarm and warn the people of what is to come.”
Although the alarm has been sounded repeatedly from critics on all sides of the political spectrum, is anyone listening? If they were, every piece of legislation that tightens the government’s stronghold on American citizens would be considered an affront to freedom. And every court decision that weakens the right of each American to privacy and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures would be considered an attack against individual liberty.
Politicians love to boast about how far we’ve come since 1776. Yet sadly, we seem to have lost the love of freedom that laid the groundwork for the American Revolution. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have further confused the situation. In fact, it is common to hear both our elected officials and citizens state rather bluntly that it’s time to relinquish some of our freedoms in order to feel more secure.
This kind of sentiment was completely foreign to those who founded this country. Obviously, those who fought the arduous battles to preserve our freedom had a different concept of what a society should be and what it meant to be a good citizen.
Vested with the deep-seated belief that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, those who founded America took a courageous stand for their right to freely pursue life, liberty and happiness. And when their outcries were ignored by Great Britain, they declared that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government.” This led to the drafting of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
It has been said that on a sunny day in Philadelphia in 1787, just after the Constitutional Convention had finished its work, a woman approached Benjamin Franklin and asked, “Mr. Franklin, what kind of government have you given us?” “A Republic, madam,” Franklin quickly answered. “If you can keep it.”
I only hope that we have the wisdom and the courage to keep it.
Yes.
There is a considerable alarmism industry out there that distorts every piece of legislation that comes along. I used to buy into some of it until I learned to do some research of my own.
I do know that the government didn't have the guts to declare war
Congress authorized the action against Iraq. The Constitution does not specify the means of declaring war, just that Congress should do such. Congress approved the action, and that's what matters.
and that the suspension of rights will never go away. The "war on (some) terror" will never be over as long as politicians can derive power and control from it.
I used to think that the war on terror was a bunch of hype prior to 9/11. I was wrong. Apparently some folks didn't get the same lesson I did. If you want to debate specifics on legislative actions, fine. But too many folks just wail and moan while failing to offer concrete alternatives or acknowledging the fact that we were friggin' attacked by people who were in this country. And that it could happen again, in a far worse manner. The oceans don't protect us the way they used to.
And how did they get into this country?
It's not up to me to prove a negative.
Through stupid immigration laws. And that's another subject entirely, that we don't enforce our border security properly, which means we're still not very serious about counterterrorism.
Right.Uh..Just a figure of speech.
I agree. The argument that, because this guy had to give his name, our rights are being eroded is silly.
If you get stopped by a cop while driving your car, you are not only required to give him your name, but your driver's license. This is nothing new - old Larry was just being a nutcase.
Lincoln suspended it during the War Between the States. Many of Lincoln's actions during the war, including the imposition of an income tax were later ruled Unconstitutional.
It could be argued that California Attourney General Earl Warren and later President Roosevelt suspended it with the internment of American Citizens of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War. The irony is that many of these American Citizens couldn't speak a word of Japanese, and were 4th generation American Citizens.
It's not up to me to prove a negative."
Typical response when you are unable to support your allegation.
Didn't need to. The terrorists declared war on us way back in 1993. It wasn't until Bush came along that anything was done in response to the acts of war committed against us.
You should be familiar with this poster's tactics by now...he rarely stays on topic, and has an unhealthy obsession with drugs.
If you are against privacy invasion by cops, you must be in favor of giving crack cocaine to 7-year olds.
Or some such nonsense.
Please show where I have gone off topic or mentioned drugs in this thread. hmmm.
It was enough a long time ago, but what are we supposed to do? The government and those entities concerned ignore the citizens and the Constitution. The media is complicit in destroying the interests of America. We put scumbag communists in positions of power, then act surprised when they refuse to do what's right. They are people without conscience and without loyalty to this nation. After awhile, the people stop beating their heads against the wall. This is the face of the new slavery. It is a monster that refuses to be controlled. It has taken on a life of its own and is possessed and empowered by the devil himself. Can it be stopped? Only by the grace of God and the repentance of the nation. I don't see that happening any time soon.
When you can't stay on topic with facts you result to slur attempts.
Post # 44
"Seems to be a trend forming. Two for Two last week. Doesn't look good for the medical marijuana scam case coming forward."
You are confused. The 'scumbag communists' are the judges in the 9th CC that the USSC overturned.
Only referring to Libertarian USSC cases which is the thrust of this thread.
Please show where I have gone off topic or mentioned drugs in this thread.
cinFLA Logic:
If you are against having to give the police your ID while minding your own business, you must be a Libertarian.
Therefore, since you are Libertarian ,you must be in favor of giving crack to 7 year old kids.
Donn't try to deny it. It's your modus operandi around here.
Oh, I forgot to mention George Soros...If you are against police demanding your ID, you are being paid by Soros to post your commie propaganda here.
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