[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

FBI recovers funds for victims of scammed banker

Mark Felton: Can Russia Attack Britain?

Notre Dame Apologizes After Telling Hockey Fans Not To Wear Green, Shamrocks, 'Fighting Irish'

Dear Horse, which one of your posts has the Deep State so spun up that's causing 4um to run slow?

Bomb Cyclone Pacific Northwest

Death Certificates Reveal FBI 'Revised' Murder Stats Still Bogus

A $110B bubble on $500M earnings. History warns: Bubbles always burst.

Joy Behar says people like their show because they tell the truth, unlike "dragon believer" Joe Rogan.

Male Passenger Disappointed After Another Flight Ends Without A Stewardess Frantically Asking If Anyone Can Land The Plane

Could the Rapid Growth of AI Boost Gold Demand?

LOOK AT MY ASS!

Elon Musk Responds As British Government "Summons" Him To 'Disinformation' Hearing

MSNBC Contributor Panics Over Trump Nominating Bondi For AG: Dangerous Because Shes Competent

House passes dangerous bill that targets nonprofits, pro-Palestine groups

Navy Will Sideline 17 Support Vessels to Ease Strain on Civilian Mariners

Israel carries out field executions, massacres in north Gaza

AOC votes to back Israel Lobby's bogus anti-Semitism definition

Biden to launch ICE mobile app, further disrupting Trump's mass deportation plan: Report

Panic at Mar-a-Lago: How the Fake Press Pool Fueled Global Fear Until X Set the Record Straight

Donald Trumps Nominee for the FCC Will Remove DEI as a Priority of the Agency

Stealing JFK's Body

Trump plans to revive Keystone XL pipeline to solidify U.S. energy independence

ASHEVILLE UPDATE: Bodies Being Stacked in Warehouses & Children Being Taken Away

American news is mostly written by Israeli lobbyists pushing Zionist agenda

Biden's Missile Crisis

British Operation Kiss kill Instantly Skripals Has Failed to Kill But Succeeded at Covering Up, Almost

NASA chooses SpaceX and Blue Origin to deliver rover, astronaut base to the moon

The Female Fantasy Exposed: Why Women Love Toxic Love Stories

United States will NOT comply with the ICC arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu:

Mississippi’s GDP Beats France: A Shocking Look at Economic Policy Failures (Per Capita)


Editorial
See other Editorial Articles

Title: Yes, It Is a Police State A line has been crossed.
Source: The Freeman Online
URL Source: http://www.thefreemanonline.org/headline/yes-this-is-a-police-state/
Published: Aug 10, 2011
Author: Steven Horwitz
Post Date: 2011-08-10 11:22:40 by F.A. Hayek Fan
Keywords: None
Views: 168
Comments: 4

As regular readers know, I’m not one for hyperbole, so perhaps some are thinking that my title is ironic. Nope, I mean it. An accumulation of events in recent months leads me to no other conclusion than that we are in fact living in a police state in the good old US of A.

The list of reasons is fairly long, but we can certainly start with our favorite gropers at the TSA. In my ideal world, airline safety would be the responsibility of those with the most directly to lose financially from doing it poorly: the airlines and the airports. But even in a world where government has taken on that responsibility, we should be protected by the Fourth Amendment against “unreasonable” searches. It’s one thing to walk through the standard metal detector, which seems reasonable, but when we are expected to pose virtually nude in a submissive position for government agents, and when refusing to do so earns you a feel-up that would count as sexual battery in most states, that is something else entirely.

If I had told you 20 years ago that in 2011 this is what would happen every day to thousands of travelers — including toddlers and the handicapped — at U.S. airports, you would not have believed me. And on top of everything else, it doesn’t work! It’s mere “security theatre.” When residents of the United States have a legitimate fear of being sexually abused by agents of the State when engaging in peaceful air travel, we live in a police state.

SWAT Teams

Add to this 1) the militarization of the police, with no-knock raids by full SWAT teams being the norm for everything from minor possession of marijuana to suspected student-loan fraud, and 2) the Supreme Court’s complicity in eviscerating the Fourth Amendment — and two more pieces of the police state are in place. These raids often feature what writer Radley Balko calls “puppycides.” The cops shoot and kill any dogs in the house routinely, regardless of their behavior. Of course the cops often raid the wrong house, terrifying innocent people in the middle of the night and killing their dogs too. When residents of the United States have serious reason to fear the door being busted down in the middle of the night by armed agents of the State despite having done nothing wrong, we live in a police state.

Then there’s my experience this past week as I drove home from the airport in Syracuse, New York. The Border Patrol and the State Police had set up a roadblock on the county line about 30 miles from my house and at least 20 miles as the crow flies from the border with Canada. This is not uncommon, but this time two things were different. First, both groups of officers were fully armed. Second, they were asking questions. Normally they just peer into your car and let you go. This time, I was asked, “Where are you coming from?”; “Were you out of the state?”; and “Do you have luggage in your trunk?” They did not search the car, nor did they ask for ID (the latter probably because I’m white), but it does not matter. When American citizens are stopped while traveling within their own state and asked to account for their whereabouts, we live in a police state.

Do You Have Your Papers?

Finally, a professional colleague of mine was recently on a train to Chicago with his teenage son. They are of Mexican descent, but both are American citizens. Border Patrol agents boarded the train and conducted a similar inquisition. My colleague and his son were hassled quite a bit and told that they probably should keep proof of citizenship with them when they travel within the United States. When innocent American citizens are told they should have “their papers” on them, we live in a police state.

My experience last weekend reflects the essence of the problem. Why were the cops and the Border Patrol there? They were looking for illegal immigrants, drugs, and potential terrorists. It’s the perfect storm of statism that has brought us to this point. The combination of xenophobia, irrational fear of drugs, and the terror the State has whipped up about terrorists around every corner is the fuel on which this police state feeds. But a police state cannot emerge without many fellow citizens being willing to trade off their actual liberties for the false promise of security.

Since 9/11 the biggest threat to the American people is not radical Muslim terrorists, nor deranged domestic terrorists, but the terrorists with the blue uniforms, badges, and body armor. Their weapons of mass destruction are not bombs, but state-approved guns, latex-gloved hands, and a profound disregard for our rights. Until we stand up and say, “Enough!”these terrorists will keep winning and our rights will continue to be lost.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

#1. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0)

deleted

The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ~ Ben Franklin

"For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ~ Patrick Henry

Eric Stratton  posted on  2011-08-10   12:15:39 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: F.A. Hayek Fan, *libertarians*, *Jack-Booted Thugs* (#0)

ping

free and legal online poker site click here

freepatriot32  posted on  2011-08-10   15:01:09 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0) (Edited)

An accumulation of events in recent months leads me to no other conclusion than that we are in fact living in a police state in the good old US of A.

How could it be any other way?

I recall back when I lived in Illinois, the cops were looking for the bearded bandit. He had shot a Buffalo Grove cop, and I saw a picture of a cop walking with am MP-5 looking for the bad guy.

Now, for those of you who do not know what an MP-5 is, it is a selective fire 9MM, made in Germany.

This is proof in itself that we are living in a police state.

You see, I remember alot about the past, my bout with meningitis not with standing.

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke

BTP Holdings  posted on  2011-08-10   16:51:42 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0)

A couple of comments from an article on the TSA at pixiq.com: TSA Screener Brings Woman To Tears Through Aggressive Body Search

To everyone, flying is a right, not a privilege, as some would have you believe.

49 U.S.C. § 40103 : US Code - Section 40103: Sovereignty and use of airspace (2) A citizen of the United States has a public right of transit through the navigable airspace

http://uscode.house.gov/uscode- cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t49t50+878...

Let me throw this in here as well...
“Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule making or legislation which would abrogate them.” Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US 436, 491.

-------

"They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC

GreyLmist  posted on  2011-08-11   2:58:55 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]