criminals should fear the police honest citizens shouldn't On Mar 9, 7:35 am, "M. Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote: > Do You Feel Free Anymore?by Don CooperMy entire adult life I’ve felt the > injustices imposed upon honest, hard-working individuals in our society: > frivolous traffic tickets, lying politicians, extorted taxes for things we > neither want nor need, abusive law enforcement and the like. I’ve always been > passionate about these injustices but not actively so. > After spending nearly a decade abroad living and working in Europe I found > myself returning to a country I didn’t recognize. I found it difficult to > acclimate and integrate into this politically correct, socially abusive, > statist society; a society that seemed to be desensitized to police abuse of > all magnitudes. The prevailing attitude seems to be: if the cops have someone > in custody then they must deserve it. > Almost immediately I was confronted with the abusive nature of the new state > order: driving to get a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning in Syracuse, NY, I > was pulled over for talking on my cell phone. Having only been in Syracuse > for 3 months I had no reason to believe that such a law existed. Regardless > the doughnut feeder pulled me from my car, patted me down in the street, and > put me in his car while he ran my license and wrote out the citation. It was > humiliating and I felt like a common criminal. > I was determined to fight the citation, but my contract ended and I left > Syracuse. Eventually I paid the $100 fine. > Just recently I moved to Princeton, NJ, to begin a new short-term contract. > This past Saturday evening I rode my bicycle to the Princeton University > campus where there are a number of pubs and restaurants. My intent was to get > Chinese takeout and go back to my room off campus. > As I rode down the sidewalk on famed Nassau Street on this clear, cool March > evening, myself and others were startled by a Mercer county patrol car > blazing its siren and lights and darting into the sidewalk ahead of me. My > first thought, of course, was: what could be going on? It wasn’t more than a > few seconds until I got the answer to that question. The short, well-armed > female officer exited her cruiser and with a firm right hand, outstretched > arm and condescending look in her eyes, she looked dead in my eyes as I > approached her and exclaimed: "Stop!" I kid you not. > Of course, this is one of those situations where anyone still in possession > of a fully functional frontal lobe thinks to themselves: what could I > possibly have done? The responsible answer is, of course: nothing. Reason and > responsibility, unfortunately, rarely seem to figure into a tax-feeder’s > thought process. As it turns out, it is illegal to ride your bicycle on the > sidewalk. Even more ridiculous is the fact that it’s only illegal in a 4–5 > block section of Nassau street AND only on my side of the street. At least > that’s what she told me. > Given my survival training learned from LRC and other sites, I immediately > knew how to handle the situation. The first thing I said was: I do not > consent to any searches of my person. Of course, this riled her; she > immediately replied: "why, do you have something to hide? When you say that > you seem suspicious." Of course this would be her response since in her mind, > as she sees herself as anointed by God herself, and anyone not wanting to > cooperate with a servant of the almighty must be immoral and hiding > something. Actually, I saw myself as being accosted by a total stranger > imposing on my freedom of movement, and was no more willing to consent to an > invasion of privacy by her anymore than I would any other stranger accosting > me on the street. I told her that I didn’t trust her and was simply > exercising my constitutional rights. That made her even angrier. Cops hate it > when mundanes say things like that. > I couldn’t help but think that this whole situation could have been avoided > if only her father had loved her more. But I digress. Continuing with her > irresponsible and abusive activities, she called for backup. Backup for a guy > riding his bicycle. When she did that it instantly became clear to me that we > were on the other side of the looking glass and tea was about to be served. > When her colleague arrived, he approached me and said that the law was the > law and they were just doing their job. Of course at that point my first > instinct was to pull his underwear up over his head and smack him for being > stupid. But I didn’t. Instead I pointed out how the German officers at the > Nuremberg trials also used the defense that they were just doing what they > were told to which he rolled his eyes as if to say: where did this nut-job > come from? > As the female cop completed the citation, I made a point of letting all folks > passing by know that the situation was because I was riding my bike on the > sidewalk. The first baby-boomer couple to pass by commented: that’s a shame. > The sidewalk is the safest place for a cyclist to ride. Of course I agreed. > Obviously this is just another example of abusive law enforcement in an > effort to extort yet more and more money out of the productive people in our > society in these hard economic times, in order to keep the non-working class > in business. > I have a court date on March 23rd at which time I will plead not guilty and I > imagine I’ll receive another court date to plead my case. My position on this > issue is simple: I cannot condone this sort of socially irresponsible > behavior on the part of the state. It’s been made clear to me that I have no > say in anything the state does, so I am forced into a corner from which I > shall fight my way out. I won’t contend that I am not guilty of breaking the > law but rather that the law itself is immoral and to cite me abusive, period. > I certainly cannot take the position of: let me just pay the citation and go > along to get along. By doing so I would be condoning these sorts of > reprehensible practices, which I do not. This particular issue is so clearly > unjust that I have no problem "going to the mattresses" in fighting it. I > can’t think of anything more insulting to me as an American as this sort of > affront to my God-given rights of existence. > Those police officers ought to be ashamed of themselves, but I know they are > not. Like so many in America – myself included – they no doubt believe in > their righteousness. But one has to ask: do you really feel free anymore? Do > you find yourself in public constantly wondering if you can cross the street > here or there? Whether you can ride your bike on a sidewalk? The shoulder of > the road? When you see a cop car in your rearview mirror, do you feel safer > or do you get a short shot of adrenaline and start wondering what he could > pull you over for? What’s your speed and what’s the speed limit? Did you > signal when you changed lanes? I think we all know the answer to that > question. > I’ve already arranged for bail on the 23rd when things go badly. Remember, > always do what you know is right, even if the government says it’s wrong. And > the government will always say it’s wrong. That’s how you can know it’s the > right thing to do.http://www.lewrockwell.com/cooper/cooper34.1.html
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