Recently by Simon Black: US Government Asset Seizures on the Rise
A few hundred years ago, some rather courageous men and women decided that theyd had enough of living under someone elses rule that the right of self-determination was stronger than any benefit or protection from living under a corrupt government.
The US Declaration of Independence eloquently posed the colonists grievances against King George III, including among others, that he had:
erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance;
obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers;
[deprived] us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury
The Constitution was supposed to address all of these grievances as the Founding Fathers sought to create a government where no single branch or office had too much power. Even to this day, US government officials swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.
My guess is that most of them havent bothered to read it.
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Take the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) under the US Department of Interior, for example. A few months ago, a government agent from FWS showed up to the home of an eleven-year-old girl with a federal summons in one hand and a citation for $535 in another.
The girls crime? Saving a baby woodpecker from being killed and eaten by the family cat. The birds mother was nowhere to be seen, so the girl (an aspiring vet) convinced her parents to let her care for it for a few days until the bird was well enough to fly away on its own.
Noble act? Wrong. Federal crime. It turns out that the bird is on the government list of protected species and according to the governments newspeak, protecting a bird thats on the protected species list is a crime.
It sort of echoes Thomas Jeffersons line about King George having erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people It seems not too much has changed.
Whats more, the agent obviously couldnt come alone to confront an 11-year old girl and her mother. No, that wouldnt be threatening enough. Thats why FWS requested to be escorted by a Virginia State Police Trooper who stood on the porch and said nothing.
Its government fear and intimidation tactics at their best a far cry from supporting and defending the Constitution.