Any time a court sides with a government employee, giving government more power over your life, liberty dies a little. There isn't much liberty to spare; the last remnants are circling the drain, washed down with public apathy. Or approval.
Such is the case with the recent Supreme Court of New Mexico ruling allowing a police officer to question a vehicle passenger-- a suspected thief. You may approve of the officer's actions, but it isn't good for your future rights.
In cases like this, the details don't matter. The court standing against individual rights by twisting the Bill of Rights to suit government preferences is the important part.
There is no one I despise more than a thief. If I let my feelings overrule my brain, that would be the end of the discussion. But liberty is more important than anyone's feelings. You've got to stand up for liberty even when your feelings would rather not.
As H.L. Mencken pointed out, “The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.”
This not only needs to be stopped, it needs to be reversed.
Governments have no rights. Government employees have no rights beyond those every individual has. What they have, illegitimately, is power over you.
Any time there's a question of whether government power trumps your rights, the court's responsibility is to side with your rights. When they side with government power they have failed in their duty.
It's a clear conflict of interest to allow a branch of government to decide how much power government is allowed to have. The Bill of Rights was supposed to prevent this, but it doesn't work when the courts side with their government coworkers; interpreting the Constitution in whichever way helps their side most. This violates the spirit of the document. It's a good idea to remember that rights don't come from documents, but from your very existence as a human being. Nothing more is needed.
The state's employees can never be permitted to start-- or continue-- believing they have the right to rule over you. It's simply not their place to do so. Their only legitimate job is to protect your rights. This ruling does the opposite.
No comments:
Post a Comment