Where To Invade Next by Michael Moore
Where To Invade Next by Michael Moore
Michael Moore’s latest film is worth watching,
because it shows how inhumane life in American society is compared to countries
in Europe. Moore allows Europeans to make the point that to live life in
America is to live in Hell. Compared to civilized societies, American society
is primative and barbaric.
Europeans regard America as “exceptional” only
in its social backwardness and lack of social compassion.
In a carceral
state—a.k.a. a prison state or a police state—there is no Fourth Amendment to
protect you from the overreaches, abuses, searches and probing eyes of
government overlords.
In a carceral state,
there is no difference between the treatment meted out to a law-abiding citizen
and a convicted felon: both are equally suspect and treated as criminals,
without any of the special rights and privileges reserved for the
governing elite.
In a carceral state,
there are only two kinds of people: the prisoners and the prison guards.
With every new law
enacted by federal and state legislatures, every new ruling handed down by
government courts, and every new military weapon, invasive tactic and egregious
protocol employed by government agents, “we the people”—the prisoners of the
American police state—are being pushed that much further into a corner, our
backs against the prison wall.
This concept of a
carceral state in which we possess no rights except for that which the
government grants on an as-needed basis is the only way I can begin to
comprehend, let alone articulate, the irrational, surreal, topsy-turvy,
through-the-looking-glass state of affairs that is being imposed upon us in
America today.
All that we are
experiencing—the sense of dread at what is coming down the pike, the
desperation, the apathy about government corruption, the deeply divided
partisanship, the carnivalesque political spectacles, the public displays of
violence, the nostalgia for the past—are part of the dying refrain of an
America that is fading fast.
No longer must the
government obey the law.
Likewise, “we the
people” are no longer shielded by the rule of law.
While the First
Amendment—which gives us a voice—is being muzzled, the Fourth Amendment—which
protects us from being bullied, badgered, beaten, broken and spied on by
government agents—is being disemboweled.
Just consider some
of the many other ways in which the Fourth Amendment—which ensures that the
government can’t harass you, let alone even investigate you, without probable
cause—has been weakened and undermined by the courts, the legislatures and
various government agencies and operatives.
Breath tests, blood draws:
Americans have no protection against mandatory breathalyzer tests at a police
checkpoint, although mandatory blood draws violate the Fourth Amendment (Birchfield v. North Dakota).
Ignorance of the law is defensible if you work for the government: Police
officers who violate the law can be granted qualified immunity if they claim
ignorance of the law (Heien v. North Carolina).
That rationale was also applied to police who clearly used excessive force when
they repeatedly tasered a pregnant woman during a routine traffic stop and were
granted immunity from prosecution (Brooks v. City of Seattle).
High-speed car chases: Police
officers can use lethal force in car chases without fear of lawsuits (Plumhoff v. Rickard).
No-knock raids: Police
can perform a “no-knock” as long as they have a reasonable suspicion that
knocking and announcing their presence, under the particular circumstances,
would be dangerous or futile or give occupants a chance to destroy evidence of
a crime (Richards v. Wisconsin). Legal ownership of a
firearm is also enough to justify a no-knock raid by police (Quinn v. Texas).
Warrantless searches by police:
Police can carry out warrantless searches of our homes based on a “reasonable”
concern by police that a suspect (or occupant) might be attempting to destroy
evidence, fleeing or hurt, even if it’s the wrong house (Kentucky v. King).
Police can also, without a warrant, search anyone who has been lawfully
arrested (United States v.Robinson) as well as
their property post-arrest (Colorado v. Bertine) and
their vehicle (NewYork v.Belton), search a car they suspect
might contain evidence of a crime (Chambers v.Maroney), and
search a home when the arrest is made on its premises (Maryland v. Buie).
Forced DNA extractions: Police
can forcibly take your DNA, whether or not you’ve been convicted of a crime.
Innocent or not, your DNA will then be stored in the national FBI database (Maryland v. King).
Strip searches:
Police can subject Americans to virtual strip searches, no matter the “offense”
(Florence v. Board ofChosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington).
This “license to probe” is now being extended to roadside stops, as police
officers throughout the country have begun performing roadside strip
searches—some involving anal and vaginal probes—without any evidence of
wrongdoing and without a warrant.
Seizures: For all intents
and purposes, you’re “seized” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment from
the moment an officer stops you (Brendlin v. California).
Search warrants on a leash:
Police have free reign to use drug-sniffing dogs as “search warrants on
leashes,” justifying any and all police searches of vehicles stopped on the
roadside (Florida v. Harris), but the use of a K-9 unit
after a reasonable amount of time has passed during a stop does violate the
Fourth Amendment (Rodriguez v. the United States).
Police and DUI Checkpoints: Police
can conduct sobriety and “information-seeking” checkpoints (Illinois v. Lidster andMich. Dep‘t of State Police v. Sitz).
Interrogating public transit passengers:
Police officers are free to board a bus, question passengers, and ask for
consent to search without notifying them of their right to refuse (U.S v. Drayton).
Warrantless arrests for minor criminal offenses:
Police can arrest you for minor criminal offenses, such as a misdemeanor
seatbelt violation, punishable only by a fine (Atwater v. City of Lago Vista).
Stop and identify: Refusing
to answer when a policeman asks “What’s your name?” can rightfully be
considered a crime. No longer do Americans, even those not charged with any
crime, have the right to remain altogether silent when stopped and questioned
by a police officer (Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada).
Traffic stops: As
long as police have reasonable cause to believe that a traffic violation
occurred, they may stop any vehicle (Whren v. U.S.). If
probable cause justifies a vehicle search, then every part of the vehicle can
be searched (U.S. v. Ross). A vehicle can be stopped even if
the driver has not committed a traffic offense (U.S. v. Cortez).
Anonymous tips, careful driving, rigid posture and acne: Police
officers can stop cars based only on “anonymous” tips (Navarette v. California).
Police can also pull you over if you are driving too carefully, with a rigid
posture, taking a scenic route, and have acne (U.S. v. Westhoven).
What many Americans
fail to understand is the devastating amount of damage that can be done to
one’s freedoms long before a case ever makes its way to court by government
agents who are violating the Fourth Amendment at every turn. This is how
freedoms, long undermined, can give way to tyranny through constant erosion and
become part of the fabric of the police state through constant use.
Phone and email
surveillance, databases for dissidents, threat assessments, terror watch lists,
militarized police, SWAT team raids, security checkpoints, lockdowns, roadside
strip searches: there was a time when any one of these encroachments on our
Fourth Amendment rights would have roused the public to outrage. Today, such
violations are shrugged off matter-of-factly by Americans who have been assiduously
groomed to accept the intrusions of the police state into their private lives.
It’s true that there
may be little the average person can do to push back against the police state
on a national level, but there remains some hope at the local level as long as
we retain a speck of our independence and individuality—as long as we can
resist the defeatist sense of double-consciousness (a phrase coined by W. E. B.
Du Bois in which we view ourselves as inferior through the prism of our
oppressors)—as long as we continue to cry out for justice for ourselves and
those around us—as long as we refuse to be shackled and made prisoners—and as
long as we continue to recognize that the only way the police state can truly
acquire and retain power is if we relinquish it through our negligence,
complacency and ignorance.
Unfortunately, we
have been utterly brainwashed into believing the government’s propaganda and
lies. Americans actually celebrate with perfect sincerity the anniversary of
our independence from Great Britain without ever owning up to the fact that we
are as oppressed now—more so, perhaps, thanks to advances in technology—than we
ever were when Redcoats stormed through doorways and subjected colonists to the
vagaries of a police state.
You see, by
gradually whittling away at our freedoms—free speech, assembly, due process,
privacy, etc.—the government has, in effect, liberated itself from its
contractual agreement to respect our constitutional rights while resetting the
calendar back to a time when we had no Bill of Rights to protect us from the
long arm of the government.
Aided and abetted by the
legislatures, the courts, and Corporate America, the government has been busily
rewriting the contract (a.k.a. the Constitution) that establishes the citizenry
as the masters and agents of the government as the servants. We are now only as
good as we are useful, and our usefulness is calculated on an economic scale by
how much we are worth—in terms of profit and resale value—to our “owners.”
Under the new terms
of this one-sided agreement, the government and its many operatives have all
the privileges and rights and “we the prisoners” have none.
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