Newsgroups: alt.activism.d
Subject: Re: Forfeiture laws
From: jc@oneb.almanac.bc.ca
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 16:04:02 PDT
Organization: The Old Frog's Almanac, Nanaimo, B.C.
Summary: right on buddy

adamsr@netcom.com (Rick Adams) writes:

> 
>         Recently, the Vice Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona put forward a
> suggestion that prostitution could be more effectively controlled by
> seizing the automobiles owned by the prostitutes clients. The reasoning
> was that it would both cost the individual financially, and force him to
> admit his behavior to his family, rather than keep it secret. That it
> would also generate additional revenue for the city was also not
> overlooked.
> 
>         Apparently, such ordinances are in effect in other areas of the
> United States and are proving successful.
> 
>         Isn't it marvelous the way our nation is attempting to solve 
> its crime problems by stealing from the citizens? 
>  
>         First there were the RICO laws - created to battle organized 
> crime but rapidly put to use to justify the seizure of property from 
> such "organized crime" figures as teenage pot dealers.
>  
>         Next came the DEA and the WoD with the concept that it's 
> easier to ignore the Constitution if you attack someone's property 
> instead of the person themselves. Suddenly Law Enforcement agencies 
> had a new source of income that was free of the tax rates and the 
> politicians -seized property.  Never mind that it didn't ALWAYS come 
> from guilty individuals. Never mind that there was often no 
> justification for seizure (i.e., the possession of $1500 in cash 
> does NOT mean that the possessor is a drug dealer) or that innocent 
> people were being hurt. The WoD blurred the distinction between 
> innocent people and criminals to the point that "fitting a profile" 
> is now enough reason to assume a person is guilty - or at least to 
> shift the burden of proof to one of innocence rather than one of 
> guilt.
>  
>         Now the use of this delightfully profitable weapon may be 
> expanded to attack those who patronize prostitutes.  First the 
> justification was "organized crime."  Next it was "drug dealers." 
> Now its "morals violations."  What's next, seizing the property of 
> people who don't mow their lawns frequently enough, or who park 
> illegally?
>  
>         Over the past 12 years, America has slowly evolved into a 
> police state that is becoming increasingly harder to distinguish 
> from that of the pre-Glosnast USSR every day.  As a child, I 
> remember being told by my teachers and the media that I should be 
> greatful to live in a country where the citizens were protected by 
> their government, where children weren't made to inform on their 
> parents, where the police didn't just seize your property or arrest 
> you because of your appearance.  I remember those teachers and those 
> TV announcers telling me how these were ALL things that the 
> "commies" did to their citizens.
>  
>         Now I see people searched, their property seized, their 
> lives disrupted, because they "fit a profile."  I see children 
> praised for turning their parents in for occasionally smoking 
> marijuana in the privacy of their homes. I see my government 
> ignoring the Constitution, in favor of supporting a political 
> campaign which is only resulting in increased violence and crime. 
> And I see the Law Enforcement agencies, those "defenders of my 
> freedom" I was taught to respect and admire as a child, not only 
> condoning those acts, but profiting from them.
>  
>         I see all of this, I recall the warnings that we must work 
> to "save our nation from the perils of communism" and I ask myself:  
>  
>         Who will work to save us from ourselves?
> 
> 
> -- 
>     rick.adams on GEnie   /|\        You are right from your side,        
>      adamsr@netcom.com  /  |  \        And I am right from mine.          
>     adamsr@irie.ais.org \ /|\ /  We're both just one too many mornings,   
>    adamsr@norwich.bitnet  \|/  And a thousand miles behind. (c Bob Dylan) 


           jc@oneb.almanac.bc.ca (John Cross)
     The Old Frog's Almanac  (Home of The Almanac UNIX Users Group)    
(604) 245-3205 (v32)    <Public Access UseNet>    (604) 245-4366 (2400x4)
        Vancouver Island, British Columbia    Waffle XENIX 1.64  
Newsgroups: alt.activism.d