Are We Doomed To Be a Police State?

Lew Rockwell ^ | June 27, 2002 | Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

[bloggerjohn]

Yeah, I know, but these are good points, so keep it civil.

[3AngelaD]

We can turn our country into a police state, or we can ask all the likely suspects, and we know who they are, to leave. We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on security at airports, in public places and so forth, when for a fraction of that amount we could get rid of most of the potential terrorists, in about three weeks. Anyone remaining here unlawfully, after those people are asked to leave, could then be arrested and deported. We have done nothing, nothing at all, to limit the access of Muslim terrorists to our shores. They are still coming here at the rate of several thousand a month.

We know there are groups of them among us, and the FBI has a pretty good idea of who and where they are. The next thing we should do is tell them to leave.

[gabby hayes]

no

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Are We Doomed To Be a Police State?

You tell me. The cops are allowed to:

... stop ALL drivers at DUI checkpoints with no probable cause.
... search cars without a warrant or probable cause.
... kill you and burn your house to the ground during a raid with no investigation into what happened (like that Beck guy in Kalifornia).
... seize your car or house and ALL property inside for certain misdemeanor charges.
... confiscate all of your firearms if you are merely accused of certain misdemeanors or are named in a restraining order.

[bloggerjohn]

I admire your brevity but find it hard to follow your reasoning ;')

[bloggerjohn]

Well, a lot of the real terrorists are Saudis, and we don't dare offend them or ask them to leave, since they're our "friends."

[RightWhale]

First sign that we are in a police state:
Police.

Scarce as hen's teeth, so:
no police state.

[bloggerjohn]

Maybe you're just thinking Uniformed police ;')

The kind of police he's talking about don't protect you from crooks, don't knock on your door with a search warrant, and don't wear uniforms.

[NeoCaveman]

Our efforts to find our enemies have put the CIA in 80 different countries. The question that we must answer some day is whether we can catch enemies faster than we make new ones. So far it appears we are losing.

Oh it is America's fault, thanks Congressman.

Murdering Saddam Hussein will surely generate many more fanatics ready to commit their lives to suicide terrorist attacks against us.

Is the good Congressman getting the appropriate briefings. Ending the regime of the Butcher of Bagdad is a good thing.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Ron Paul is clearly an optimist, believing that the trend can be reveresed.

Is 16-20 years of ever-shrinking individual liberties and ever-widening gov't powers a sign that we are becoming a police state? The answer is yes. This has been happening ever since George Bush the elder, Ronald Reagan's biggest mistake.

As for our liberties, we have the same ability to decide who has power at the federal or even state level as shareholders do on who is on their company's board of directors.

Just think of the 2000 election: the 'major' candidates a moron clown who believes he's the second smartest man in existence and an undistinguished 'son of' who believes he knows exactly what is good for the rest of us. If I can make a prediction, the choice in 2004 is going to be at least as inspiring as that in 2000.

And, while the masses are being occupied by the media with the possibility of terrorists in scuba gear blowing up America, more and more freedom are being taken away FOR EVER because the masses ask for it or simply don't care.

[FastCoyote]

It occurred to me on another thread that George Bush may well be Baal, a false idol worshipped by many because he espouses security and compassion (not freedom and self-reliance). We are certainly more statist and closer to a police state than when I grew up. Hell, I could ride my bike without a helmet, carrying a BB gun, throwing firecrackers and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as a kid and I would have been considered normal.

[FastCoyote]

Now if I were a kid, I would be free to ride my bike (only with a helmet in a bike path), wearing a gay pride T-shirt, doped on Ritalin, holding a box of Trojans in one hand while I rapped a Pledge to Mother Earth. And I would be considered normal while a kid who showed up in my 1950's alter ego would literally be carted off to jail. So, yes, we are closing in on a police state.

[headsonpikes]

"...I would have been considered normal."

Not by those of us who know you! ;^)

Kids are treated terribly today by the State, and parents, mostly, tell their kids 'You can't fight City Hall.'

Prognosis? Cloudy, at best. The future will be uglier than the past.

[Lumberjack]

Excellent points all.

Anybody who has bothered to read the DOI recently may be quite shocked at how closely the abuses of King George mirror government abuses today.

The police state is just about here in full force, and I wish everybody cheering for it and waving their little Chinese made American flags and singing "God Bless America" while defending the "need" for said Police State a horrible, horrible misery filled existance.

After all, they've earned it.

[Honorary Serb]

The BIGGEST foreign policy blooper that the US makes that makes us vulnerable to terrorism is backing muslim extremists, using muslim thugs to do our mis-leaders' dirty work, and supplying muslim extremists and the states that back them with money, logistical support, propaganda that their "cause" is right, etc.

The biggest recent example of this is the clintonite Balkans policy, but it also applies to Afghanistan in the 1980s, Lenbanon in the 1970s, Chechnya, Kashmir, and backing a "Palestinian" state. muslim terrorists with money, new countries to use as bases, the ability to come to this country without scrutiny, CIA support, and other assets that the US has given them are FAR more dangerous to Americans than if they lacked these assets.

If we want to break the backs of the terrorists and their supporters, we need to:
1. initiate a crash program to become independent of foreign oil (and eventually all oil) in ten years, by developing advanced energy technologies.
2. in the interim, switch as much as possible to non-islamic oil (e.g., Russia).
3. Stop using muslim thugs to do our dirty work.
4. Root out muslim terrorists, criminals, and fifth coulumnists from the US, and deport as many as possible.
5. Reverse our muslim-favoring policies, especially in the Balkans, and make Serbia, Russia, India, Israel, etc. our partners in the war on terrorism. That includes a return of Kosovo and Republika Srpska to Serbia, and of Albanian-occupied Macedonia to Christian Macedonian rule.
6. As we become more and more independent of islamic oil, disengage more and more from entangling "alliances" with islamic countries, which only benefit islamic world domination.

If we have a set of policies of this type, we will need a lot fewer police state-like operations to defend ourselves from terrorism here at home.

[Free the USA]

Index Bump and fyi

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Thanks for making me laugh.

My kids just got their training wheels removed a couple of weeks ago.

[bloggerjohn]

You forgot the most important. Bomb Riyadh!