What happened to American passion for true freedom?

It has become common for some Americans to yell ‘loss of freedom’ whenever a struggling, single mom gets assistance from WIC; when the federal government says that basic insurance coverage includes contraception; or when someone defends a graduated income tax. So why are these same people so quick to give up real freedoms, ones that really matter?

Shortly after Arizona passed the law that “empowered local police officers to stop anyone they suspected of being an illegal alien and demand proof of citizenship ” I traveled to Arizona with my daughter and her partner. Raul’s mother is Puerto Rican and his father is Mexican-American. He looks undeniably Hispanic. And traveling with him, my daughter and I (olive skinned, and dark haired) could also be ‘suspected’ of being Hispanic. So we took our passports with us. When I mentioned this, in passing, on Facebook, I was attacked by extended family members for being paranoid. They insisted that I would not be at any risk unless I broke the law. (Never mind, that being arrested and held indefinitely as a suspected “illegal alien” seems a bit harsh for going a few miles over the speed limit on the interstate.) They called me a liar when I pointed out that the statute permitted law enforcement officers to stop people that they, in their subjective opinion, suspected of being an undocumented alien. And that it further required them to detain anyone who could not produce proof of citizenship. My relatives became so angry that they accused me of being divisive and unfit for ministry.

And now we see overwhelming support for the new Washington law that authorizes blood draws for a traffic stop for suspected DUI. Typical of numerous responses to KXLY’s “Sound Off” on the subject was Tom Harding, “I support this. We all know this area has a big problem with DUI’s and repeat DUI’s. Too many accidents that are caused by drunken drivers. I think this is a good first step in dealing with the problem.” When other contributors to “Sound Off” talked about constitutional protections they were dismissed as paranoid. “If you’re paranoid about this, find yourself a designated driver,” (Sara Good).

I am stunned at this attitude that law-abiding citizens never get victimized by overzealous (or sometimes even malicious) law enforcement. If an officer stops someone they don’t like (and if you’ve lived in a small town, you understand how possible this is) they can simply ‘suspect’ the person is driving under the influence, take them to a medical professional for a blood draw, and impound their vehicle and everything in it. (They’re not allowed to leave vehicles sitting on the side of the road — it’s a safety hazard!) So even if charges are never filed— because you didn’t do anything wrong — you still lose your vehicle or spend several hundred dollars (and often the better part of a day) recovering it. In municipalities with documented racism this becomes virtually guaranteed. And for many of us who live even close to poverty level, paying these fees is often impossible and we lose our transportation.

And what if you are seriously scared of needles? How is it trivial to have someone stick a needle in you at the whim of an officer?

This is one more case of our culture becoming rabidly utilitarian. Principles be damned! The end (for example, identifying some of those driving under the influence) justifies the means (taking away our right to be free from unwarranted searches and seizures). Is this really the America that we want to live in?

Not me! I want to return to principles. I want to the government to follow due process before they arrest me, seize my property, impound my vehicle, or stick needles in me to draw my blood. We are rapidly becoming that people about whom Benjamin Franklin once said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”