When they came for the 4th Amendment I had nothing to hide so I did not speak. When they came for the 1st Amendment I could not speak.
It was a small step a little over a year ago on the slippery slope in Waco. Both cases involve guns. And now it formally involves voiding the protections of the Bill of Rights -- in a noble cause of course.
There is a housing project in Chicago where the city has no ability to control the crime. Chicago has political gun laws such that the poor in the project have no chance in the world of owning the means of self defense legally. The police want to conduct house to house searches for guns and drugs without the warrants that have been required by the constitution for over two centuries.
What the Chicago folk want is one thing of only passing interest. What is of primary interest is that President Clinton has ordered Attorney General Janet Reno to find a way to circumvent the Constitution. It is now formal policy of the Executive Branch to circumvent the constitution.
There is a concept in the study of morality called the slippery slope. It holds that any small violation for any cause of a prohibition will lead to greater violations for lesser cause. We are on the way to the de facto repeal of the 4th amendment.
The 4th 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.
Over the years we have seen this amendment weakened yearly. Not so many years ago it was discovered road block stops were suddenly constitutional in the noble cause of preventing drunk driving. A bit later it was discovered to be constitutional to stop cars in the war on drugs, another noble cause. It was found that if the government invoked the noble causes of guns and child abuse at Waco it could do anything it wanted.
While some of us were objecting and saying it would eventually be applied to homes. We were advised we were paranoid and that it would never happen. Let me ask you. Who are you going to listen to? A person who said it would never apply to homes or a person who said it would apply to homes?
Notice the two parts to the 4th Amendment. The first says, "shall not be violated." There are no exceptions or excuses listed or noble causes listed.
The second part makes it possible to issue a warrant upon strict conditions (which have become less strict with each passing noble cause) of having a good reason to believe there is something illegal and a person swearing to it and exactly the place and the person.
Putting those two together it is clear without the second part being fulfilled the "shall not" in the first part is in full force and effect. In fact it means that all people without a warrant are equal be they government or not. Without a warrant not even the government can do it. And in fact anyone regardless of uniform or employer is no different than a common thug without such a warrant.
The Chicago case fails this amendment in that it was a search without sworn statement of the specific items in the specific places to be searched. It is without probable cause. It is nothing less than the house to house search we have been hearing about in totalitarian governments all our lives. This is so much of a cliche that even Perot suggested it.
No student of recent American history can deny the slippery slope principle is in full force in this country. We can see in only the last few years with clear examples the protection for the government subversion of rights increasing.
There is no question that the justification for warrantless searches will continue to increase as will the number of them and their targets. It is only a matter of time before it is a house to house search for undesirables. Do not forget I predicted the warrantless search of cars would be applied to the warrantless search of homes. I was right then. Will you give more credibility to me or to the usual suspects who said it would never be applied to homes?
I have no idea who will be the next target. What I do know is that it will not be only the "poor" which no one cares about and that the cause will be very less. This is a public housing unit that gives the government some interest. The next time the government interest will be much less than something it paid for.
Liberty is not given up all in one piece but small pieces. The power of the government never retreats after the job is over. If we do not speak out to object to this right now it will only get worse. It has already become worse. There is no way to stop this without drawing a line in the sand and working to stop the government from ever doing this again.
We have to renounce the noble causes that have lead to this. We have to stop accepting excuses when it is not our cause. Eventually it will be you this change will come for and there will be no one speaking in your defense.
Does anyone truly think that warrantless searches for tax records is not already under way? We are now well into the age of the storm troopers we all swore we would never accept and we are encouraging it. We deserve what happens to us.