Leave the police state that is America

Leave the police state that is America

Some time between 9/11 and now America became a police state. I cannot pinpoint the tipping point because the last several years are a blur of laws and policies that were passed so quickly and in such volume that no one could track them, let alone provide analysis. Even lawmakers didn’t read what they were passing. Moreover, I am not sure how to define “a police state” as opposedto a quasi one…so pinpointing is a term of accuracy that doesn’t apply. But, like pornography, I know a police state when I see it and I see everytime I glance State-side. And the collapse of the American dollar has not even occurred yet. When that happens — and it will be as swift as the mortage collapse — the fear and panic generated could well allow/encourage the establishment of one of the worst totalitarian states the world has seen in a developed nation.

People who value their freedom and safety should leave…if possible. Having said this, I cannot fault those who stay to be near family and friends or a business that took a decade to establish. Nor can I blame anyone who says “Hell, no!” and draws a line against surrending their freedom on the soil of their birth. Hell, I have all those urges warring within me. But I don’t think it is wise to heed them. I think it is wise to GET OUT and fight for freedom from comparative safety. Get your assets out, get your family out, get your body out of the reach of the United States government. .

To repeat: the US is now a police state in which the slightest infraction against authority is a criminal offense. And by ‘infraction I do not mean violence against person or property; I mean speaking back to or ignoring an agent of the state, including the lowly agency of a high school math teacher. (See earlier blogpost “Disobeying is a Criminal Act”.)

At the end of the 2-3 hours of daily news surfing, I am heartsick and/or numb. I do not search for stories about government’s growth and abuse — I skim for ifeminist topics — but there are so many of them as to be avoidable. Here are just two items I tripped over this morning.

Item #1. John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute offers an analysis entitled “Nationalizing the cars and bikes of rock collectors — Pending Omnibus land bill’s forfeiture provision has broad reach.” Berlau writes, In the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which passed the Senate (S. 22) in January and is up for a vote in the House as early as this Wednesday, a “forfeiture” provision would let the government confiscate “all vehicles and equipment of any person” who disturbs a rock or a bone from federal land that meets the bill’s broad definition of “paleontological resource.” The seizures could take place even before a person and even if the person didn’t know they were taking or digging up a “paleontological resource.” And the bill specifically allows the “transfer of seized resources” to “federal or non-federal” institutions, giving the government and some private actors great incentive to egg on the takings.

Tracie Bennitt, president of the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences, states that the bill’s language is so vague and the penalties so severe that well-meaning scientists could end up in jail. That’s one of the possible penalties: 5 years in jail. Indeed, Sec. 6306 (b) of the Act states that “a person may not make or submit any false record, account, or label for, or any false identification of, any paleontological resource excavated or removed from Federal land.” I daresay that most museums with a collection of any size has labeling errors from time to time. The “false” label would be a matter of little import if the Act did not state 6306 (b) that a false labeller “shall be fined in accordance with title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.” In other words, even mislabelling a fossil could result in a two year sentence.

Item #2. This article from KMOV4 in St. Louis, “Mo. lawmakers support bill allowing classroom spankings.” The Missouri House has passed a bill that approves the spanking of children as long as 2 adults are present. Although it is a criminal offense for parents to beat a child, as long as a teacher has another adult for company, he or she can legally beat that same child. And, in case the assaulting teacher breaks a child’s bones or otherwise causes extreme harm, the Bill also immunizes teachers from lawsuits. So…why do 2 adults have to be present, you ask? In order to prevent spankings that are sexually motivated. So…this is the class lesson for today: violence is good but sex is bad. Oh, and the teacher your friend. The measure was approved by a 160-0 vote and now proceeds to the Senate.

What disheartens me the most is the lack of opposition to such measures. Indeed, people seem to cheer on even the most vicious penalties and laws in much the same way ancient Romans must have cheered the throwing of innocents to lions. These are the crazy years (as Heinlein would have said) and the best thing you can do is get out of the way of Leviathan. Get the hell out of Dodge…that is, of America. Wendy McElroy -