First, we must define our terms. For example, someone having a
short temper, or exercising bad judgment, even repeatedly, is not
necessarily a fascist pig. No, a cop's level of "fascismo," if you
will, must be measured by something other than just being stupid or
even malicious. To truly be a fascist, a cop must demonstrate that
he has the fascist mindset. So let's define what that is.
A NON-fascist cop, when he looks out at the world, would see lots
of good people, whom he would want to protect, and would never want
to harm, intimidate, or even inconvenience unnecessarily. His goal
would be to find the nasty people in the world, and see to it that
they are prevented from harming any of the decent people.
A FASCIST cop, on the other hand, would view everyone as his
inferior, to be controlled, interrogated, or even abused at will.
He sees himself, a representative of "authority," as having the
right to forcibly impose his will on anyone he wants, whenever he
wants, for any reason (or no reason) and the right to use outright
violence against any who do not obey his every whim.
So, in this message and the ones to follow, we will examine
examples of police conduct in this country, and rate the level of "fascismo" demonstrated by American "law enforcement." What we
won't bother looking at are things like a car chase which ends with
a cop with too much adrenaline in his blood, or a cop shooting
someone with somewhat questionable justification. No, we are
looking for ATTITUDE.
The goal is to determine if American cops
today think like defenders of justice, and keepers of the peace, life, liberty and freedom, or like fascist pigs.
This is the second message in my ongoing series of messages addressing the question: Are those in American "law enforcement" today noble and brave public servants, or fascist pigs?
Just to review, we are not asking whether cops are hot-tempered, stupid, or even sadistic. We're not trying to figure out if they're good people, or if they exercise bad judgment. The question is whether they have the fascist mindset.
A NON-fascist cop, when he looks out at the world, would see lots of good people, whom he would want to protect, and would never want to harm, intimidate, or even inconvenience unnecessarily. His goal would be to find the nasty people in the world, and see to it that they are prevented from harming any of the decent people.
A FASCIST cop, on the other hand, would view everyone as his inferior, to be controlled, interrogated, or even abused at will. He sees himself, a representative of "authority," as having the right to forcibly impose his will on anyone he wants, whenever he wants, for any reason (or no reason) and the right to use outright violence against any who do not obey his every whim.
The incident we will examine in this message, unlike the last one, does not involve open violence and physical abuse. However, it is just as good a test of the attitude of the American "police." The following video clip will explain the circumstances, but in short, a guy who works for the Campaign for Liberty was stopped, interrogated, and arrested* at the airport, for having a bunch of money with him (about $4,700). (* Whether or not the cops actually said he was "arrested," you know darn well what would have happened had he tried to leave. Ergo, he was being forcibly detained against his will, a.k.a., arrested, even though no crime was ever charged or alleged.)
In reality, the guy's real sins were two-fold: he didn't volunteer to subject himself to an unwarranted interrogation by the federales, and he had a bunch of stuff with him (e.g., Ron Paul bumper-stickers) indicating that he likes freedom, and dislikes big government. (Oh, the horror.) So in reality, it's pretty likely that the money was the EXCUSE for detaining and harassing the guy, but not the real cause. But again, what we're looking for here is not about the particular scenario, but about the ATTITUDE of those in "law enforcement."
Do they respect individual rights, or do they think they can do whatever they darn well please, and that everyone else should unquestioningly obey? So let's consider a few points: 1) Would anyone who is NOT a fascist pig think it's okay to detain someone for simply being in possession of a bunch of money? No. Any non-fascist cop would know that such behavior is both legal and, more importantly, NONE OF HIS BUSINESS.
Not the American "officers." of this war on the people.
EVERYTHING is their business, in their eyes, whether it's illegal or not. (It's true, it was pretty much money, around $4,700, but that is neither illegal nor all that unusual. I suspect that at one time or another, even if not very often, most of us have had a few thousand in cash and/or checks on us, if we're going to buy a car, or make a big down-payment or something.)
2) Would anyone who is NOT a fascist pig think it's okay to try to bully someone into answering something that he has NO obligation to answer, and that the police had no right to ask in the first place? Keep in mind, if the guy was a drug-runner, or a professional hit- man, the Fifth Amendment says that he would NOT have any obligation to say where he got the money, and that the cops should NOT in any way try to compel him to answer. So do we have FEWER rights when we're NOT breaking any law? In the eyes of the American Gestapo, apparently so.
3) Would anyone who is NOT a fascist pig tell someone that "if you have nothing to hide" you'd automatically happily answer any unjustified questions any jackboot with a badge decides to ask you, even if there isn't any reason to suspect you've done anything criminal? Nope. Once again, it's classical Nazi-think: that not wanting to let them violate your rights constitutes PROOF that you must be a bad guy and guilty of something nasty.
4) And again, an important point to always include: Would anyone who is NOT a fascist pig quietly stand by while his fellow "officers" treated someone like this? No. How hard would it be for one noble "public servant" to say, "Hey guys, it's not illegal to have cash, and even if he really is a criminal--which we have no reason to suspect--he still doesn't have to answer our questions"? So how often does that actually happen? Ever?
This time, the example of fascism had a relatively happy ending. Eventually, after illegally and immorally stopping the guy, illegally and immorally detaining him, and illegally and immorally trying to interrogate him (not to mention insulting and harassing him), the cops let him continue on his way.
And how many people do you think would have had the fortitude and wisdom to NOT meekly go along with their fascist bullpoop? (And how great was it that the guy happened to have the presence of mind to secretly record the incident?) As I've said before, those pretending to be "authority" act like all-powerful gods because their victims TREAT them like all- powerful gods.
If we all act like wimpy peasants, groveling before anyone pretending to be "authority," what do you expect the fascists to think of us? How would you expect them to treat us?
If being an American ever meant anything, it should be this: We don't take $#@$%# from government. In other words, it is UNAMERICAN to "cooperate" with government wrongdoing. And though this second scenario, thankfully, did not end in bloody violence, the verdict is the same as it was in the first: all indications are that those in American "law enforcement" today are fascist pigs who deserve our utmost contempt.
Henry Louis Gates' Contempt Of Cop Emptywheel - At tonight's nationally televised press conference, a reporter asked President Obama a question about the July 16 arrest of famed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. Obama set off...
Contempt of Cop' by William Norman Grigg - The police are to the government as the edge is to the knife, insists sociologist David Bayley, who apparently couldn't explain why the typical...
Welcome to America Now step inside the jail cell - The audio exchange in this video was apparently recorded at the U.S. Canada border after a Canadian displayed contempt-of-cop towards the American law enforcement officer asking questions.
Contemptible police tactics - Cops raid the home of a licensed medical marijuanna provider in Washington, handcuff the fourteen year old son and put a gun to his head, and search the nineteen year old daughter and take the contents of her mickey-mouse wallet.
How To Survive Traffic Stops in America Submit, Instantly! - What the cops want is immediate obedience. Many cops are ex-military and view the civilian motorists of America about like they viewed the hapless peasants of Iraq and Afghanistan that is, with contempt, not as fellow citizens deserving of civility and respect. It is a possibly lethal mistake to do anything other than submit, instantly and obey!
My radio interview with Katherine Albrecht - Carlos Miller Photography is Not a Crime is interviewed by Katherine Albrecht, activist, radio host and privacy advocate, Tuesday afternoon where they discussed his blog, his arrests, the situation in the United Kingdom and the spread of contempt of cop cases that are popping up on the internet on a regular basis.
