Our civil liberties are being shredded: Does no one care?

Dec 21, 2010

From Reason, here is another frightening article about the abuse of police power and the overuse of paramilitary SWAT teams to terrorize American citizens. We're living in a police state, folks. This country's founding fathers would never have tolerated the abuses that go on daily. Some people wondered why I was so critical of sobriety checkpoints last month. The reason is because sobriety checkpoints represent one more in a truly frightening line of abuses by law enforcement that are chipping away at our civil rights.

In August a team of heavily armed Orange County, Florida, sheriff’s deputies raided several black- and Hispanic-owned barbershops in the Orlando area. There were more raids in September and October. According to the Orlando Sentinel, barbers and customers were held at gunpoint, some in handcuffs, while police turned the shops upside down. A total of nine shops were raided, and 37 people were arrested.

By all appearances, these raids were drug sweeps. Shop owners told the Sentinel police asked where they were hiding illegal drugs and weapons. But in the end, 34 of the 37 arrests were for "barbering without a licence," a misdemeanor for which only three people have ever served jail time in Florida. Two arrests were for misdemeanor marijuana possession. Just one person was arrested on felony drug and weapon charges.

(Emphasis is mine.)

This has to stop, people. We should not have to live in fear of our government.