A lot of times its the Super Law-and-Order types that are most in favor of asset forfeiture laws (“Hey, this X looks like it was part of a crime; we are taking it from you, even if we don’t actually charge you with anything”). The ostensible reasons for such laws is making sure that Bad Guys don’t profit from their crimes and slip through the judicial cracks. “Yay for strong justice!” they cry.
Those same Super Law-and-Order types also tend to be hyper-supportive of folk guarding the border, because, you know, illegals and other Bad Guys.
And those same Super Law-and-Order types also tend to be very gung-ho over the Second Amendment, and very critical over anything that affects gun ownership and the Constitutional Right to protect oneself from the Bad Guys..
Now watch those three conservative causes crash and burn. Because authoritarian policing and lack of due process don’t just affect the Bad Guys. It’s a lesson of history we keep conveniently forgetting …
Customs agents seized a lawful gun owner’s truck over five bullets. Now he’s suing to get it back.
They accused him of transporting “munitions of war.”
In the last sentence, change the "we" to "they", and you'll be spot on.
Ugh. Civil asset forfeiture has to go away. It is and has always been utterly contemptible and only legal in the most explicit, "because we passed the law", sense. The days of the excessively armed bully cop need to end, too; they aren't supposed to be above or at war with the citizens they serve.
The article is rich with schadenfreude, though. Assigning nearly unlimited power indiscriminately will always backfire.
+Stan Pedzick I'm including humanity as a whole in that.
to whom it may concern:
I do hope people are not foolish enough to think this is a Dem vs GOP issue. The Republicans didn’t pass the Patriot Act all by themselves, and Bill Clinton made law ‘n order a centerpiece.
to whom it may concern:
I do hope people are not foolish enough to think this is a Dem vs GOP issue. The Republicans didn’t pass the Patriot Act all by themselves, and Bill Clinton made law ‘n order a centerpiece. Lots of Dems have been fans of the Drug War, too.
@paintedjaguar — It’s not purely a Dem-vs-GOP issue, and being “Tough on Crime” and “War on Drugs” is something the Democrats have definitely gone along with, when not actively abetting. But in the present climate, most of the Warrior on Drugs set tend toward the Right, and, as the group in power, the buck stops with them.