Bill of Rights – Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amerika, 2001:
"Please step out of the car and place your hands on the roof! Keep your hands where I can see them at all times!"
"But, but Officer…what's the problem? Why are you pointing your gun at me?"
Hands on the roof NOW!"
"Oh my god…hey, OUCH, those handcuffs hurt! What the hell did I DO?"
"35 miles an hour in a 30mph zone, scumbag. School zone too. Now shut your face or I'll put you in the holding cell with some very interesting new friends!"
The SCOTUS recently decided a case involving venerable 4th Amendment to the US Constitution. The court's "conservative" wing, aided by one "liberal" handed down this decision concerning the case of Gail Atwater vs. the city of Lago Vista and Bart Turek, a Lago Vista police officer.
"The question is whether the Fourth Amendment forbids a warrantless arrest for a minor criminal offense, such as a misdemeanor seat-belt violation punishable only by a fine. We hold that it does not," Justice David Souter said for the court majority.
In March 1997 Soccer mom Atwater was driving her pickup truck with her 3-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the front seat. None of them was wearing a seat belt. Officer Turek, observing violations, pulled Atwater over.
After discovering Ms. Atwater didn't have her papers (her purse had been stolen the previous day), Offizier Turek of the Lago Vista Geheime Staatspolizei proceeded to order this supposed citizen out of the car, handle her roughly, handcuff her in front of her screaming children and haul her off to the camps…er, I mean a holding cell.
Naturally, she sued. And she lost. Goodbye 4th?
Technically, no. The Bill of Rights does not apply to the various states. They were put into place as a brake on the powers of the Federal government. As an example, the 1st Amendment prohibits the establishment of a State (federal) religion, but some of the states in colonial times did have established state churches. Perfectly legal under a strict interpretation of the US Constitution. So, what's the problem?
The problem is twofold. Increasingly federalized and militarized local police forces no longer respect us as American citizens. They are the standing army that our Founding Fathers warned us against. Even worse than the confusing multiplicity of armed Federal alphabet agencies (there are only a few thousand members of them in total, nothing an armed and vigilant citizenry couldn't handle), they are being funded by federal taxes and trained by federal troops. And increasingly, they have no compunction about killing you. Not the bad guys. You.
This of course, is brought to you in large part, by The War on Drugs & trade;.
The various states are complicit in this. Herein lies part two of the problem. Starting with the conversion of Senators to SuperCongressman by Amendment XVII, the states have lost most of the sovereign powers left them in the aftermath of the Civil War, and have become mere precincts of the federal government. Officer Turek might have well have been an FBI agent, because the federal government is probably where a good portion of his paycheck and training originated.
We are being hemmed in day by day with an ever increasing mountain of laws, executive orders and taxation, restricting our rights to a degree that would have shocked a serf living in medieval England. I don't recall ever reading about an officer of King John pulling a serf off his mule and demanding u2018his papers'.
Our police have been converted from protectors of the peace to a veritable standing army. Instead of guarding their flock from the wolves, the common constables are now guardians of the State, keeping a sharp eye out for dissent, illegal substance use and other crimes du jour that offend our masters in Washington DC. The proud motto Protect and Serve is no more. It's now Punish and Suppress. But the wolves walk free.
Once the cornerstone of a free republic, our US Constitution has truly become a mere scrap of one-ply parchment for our masters to wipe their rears with. It's ignored by the federal government and not insisted on by the various states. Abraham Lincoln put an end to any really uppity behavior from the states, and Ike, LBJ and JFK snuffed out the final gasps of independence from those once sovereign institutions.
Now, back to the case of Gail Atwater vs. the city of Lago Vista. As I said, she was treated unfairly, but apparently not illegally, under the laws of Texas. In bygone times if she was unable to receive fair treatment in the so-called sovereign state of Texas, or successfully lobby for changes to the constitution of Texas to prevent such abuses, under our original federal system she would have had the right to move to Louisiana, where perhaps the laws were fairer. She can still move, but she won't be changing political masters if she does.
She can't escape…and neither can you or I.
April 30, 2001
