The Beginning and End of the Constitution: Boston

We're all aware of the events in Boston. It is national news that a large portion of Boston was in lockdown and that searches by thousands of law enforcement officers were underway. When Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was eventually caught, the people of  Boston came out and applauded the work of their public officials. And rightly so. After a chase which resulted in one MIT campus officer dead and a transportation officer severely wounded, the officers that exhibited extraordinary bravery and courage against heavily armed suspects should be applauded.

But now, what about the massive civil liberties infractions against the residents of Boston? What about the paramilitary SWAT and FBI teams that ,without warrant or justified cause, unlawfully invaded people's homes and privacy?

It doesn't even matter that if those people complied or agreed or not. There were direct violations of the 1st and 4th Amendments.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment IV

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.

People were told to stay in their houses and to not use cell phones or social media in case the suspect was using cell-phone activated explosives or social media for information. So people (citizens) were told to not communicate or speak with others or their neighbors and to stay in their homes. A direct and onerous violation of the 1st Amendment since it attempted to restrict free assembly and free speech.

Perhaps even more disgusting were the house-to-house raids of entire streets. A video of which I have included below.

 I'm not trying to steal the video. I just wanted it to originate from somewhere besides YouTube in case it is pulled down. The original video was uploaded by YouTube user rambone5 and can be found in higher quality here. (Blogger restricts videos to under 100 Mb.)

No warrants were served, but unreasonable searches were. What a horrific violation of people's right to stay in their own home unmolested by the State! This is almost un-fathomable to think that 2013 America allows this bullshit to occur. Maybe it is because this happened in New England, where the populace is accustomed to their rights being played with. I have a feeling this wouldn't fly in certain regions of the Midwest. They wouldn't try it, and if they did, there would be significant resistance, possibly even armed, from the populace. One terrorist running rampant does not eliminate my rights. The only thing that eliminates my rights is my death.

At which point does law enforcement no longer become justified and their actions no longer within the law. I would say when they start directly violating the Constitution. Citizens have to follow rules and laws respecting others. So does law enforcement. 

I'm sorry officer. From my warm live hands. Get off my porch.

The video above struck a huge nerve in me. The poster was just a dude in his house when the paramilitaries came down and descended upon his street. Change the houses and the uniforms and what difference is there between that scene and Nazi troopers searching houses for Jews in 1942?

Now that it has been done once, expect it again and again. Each time the boundary will be pushed farther in order to "protect the people". Larger areas will be searched and anyone who resists will be dealt with faster.

Gradually, as more of these disgusting searches are done, there will be less resistance from the media or from independent viewpoints. It will become normal and people will expect it. For my part, I'm not coming out of my house and you sure aren't coming in mine without a fight. I'll probably lose and be labeled a domestic terrorist but at least I will have tried to protect my rights.

That may sound like bluster, but it is going to come to that for some of us within my lifetime and it isn't going to be pretty.

The forces of evil won two victories this week. They killed 4 people in Boston and injured hundreds. They also successfully caused the invasion of the homes of hundreds (maybe thousands) of people, resulting in countless unreasonable searches. It was bullshit like this that caused the original Americans to rebel against redcoats invading their homes and searching them. If some of the original patriots had heard this and seen the storm coming, I think they would have said this too: Keep your powder dry , America.


Note: Here's some light humor to end this very serious post. Maybe there's hope if this is what is interfering with our rights: