One repulsive feature in the liberal arguments for routine police roadblocks [advocates call them “sobriety checkpoints”] is one of omission: The absolute refusal to address why roadblocks are offensive to liberty and specifically Fourth Amendment concerns.
Instead, we are treated to 38 other states do it; the Supreme Court’s 4th amendment doctrine of the Roberts Court says it’s okay, and so on.
Whatever happened to the libertarian ethos that we must be suspicious of claims demanding that we hand over our liberty for safety and security?
And when did we start taking our cues on liberty from Chief Justice John Roberts?
From Kathleen Falk, Jim Rowan, and other liberals, there is not so much as lip service paid to Fourth Amendment concerns.
Personally, I’m voting against Kathleen Falk in her reelection bid for Dane County Executive precisely because of her disregard of Fourth Amendment liberties [and her handling of the 911 Center-Zimmermann scandal].
A comment I received on a recent piece on the topic is instructive: Oh, you just must like to smoke pot and drive and you must like drinking and driving.
Apparently, the idea that citizens just like their Fourth Amendment whole and unharmed is incomprehensible to some, to many.
You would think that those who value liberty would begin their advocacy of roadblocks by prefacing how invidious police roadblocks are to the Fourth Amendment, but .... .
But there is not so much as a rhetorical struggle when it comes to proposing roadblocks.
The pro-roadblock crowd doesn’t grabble with such concerns because liberty is no longer a worry as they drunkenly veer into the old lock-them-up, criminalize, get-tough-on-crime nostrums of the last four decades that have resulted in America leading the world in its citizens incarcerated.
“The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world's population but almost 25 percent of the world's prisoners. The U.S. leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment.” (NYT, Liptak, 04/27/08)
Iran? Saudi Arabia? Get in line, we’re number one in taking away our fellow citizens’ liberty but Rowen and Falk and company want a bigger lead.
But hey, what do James Madison (he’s that Bill of Rights guy after whom we named our capital) and the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London know anyway?
I say they knew and know a lot about liberty, and as for the liberals who have gone along with (and now lead the way on) this tough-on-crime, war-against-drugs, more-people-in-jail foolishness: YOU'RE THE PROBLEM!
Fourth Amendment
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.
Contact author at: maleon64@yahoo.com
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