Welcome to the Party, Pal; Fourth Amendment Edition

The NY Times published an Op-Ed on how the Obama Administration, the Congress and the Supreme Court has continued on with gutting the 4th Amendment.

This spring was a rough season for the Fourth Amendment. The Obama administration petitioned the Supreme Court to allow GPS tracking of vehicles without judicial permission. The Supreme Court ruled that the police could break into a house without a search warrant if, after knocking and announcing themselves, they heard what sounded like evidence being destroyed. Then it refused to see a Fourth Amendment violation where a citizen was jailed for 16 days on the false pretext that he was being held as a material witness to a crime.

In addition, Congress renewed Patriot Act provisions on enhanced surveillance powers until 2015, and the F.B.I. expanded agents’ authority to comb databases, follow people and rummage through their trash even if they are not suspected of a crime.

No fucking shit. Bloggers on both sides of the political spectrum have been warning about this for years.*

We have lost so much in this country. It was not so long ago that one never saw a policeman strutting about, wearing a German helmet and cradling a submachine gun or an assault rifle, but those are now almost common sights in some cities.

It just keeps creeping along. The Patriot Act gave powers to law enforcement to stop terrorists, but the cops were not shy about using those powers to expand garden-variety criminal investigations.

This shit has to stop. We have to stop it. We have to start electing politicians who are willing to stand up to the forces of fascism who say that they can keep us safe only if they can disregard our civil rights. We, as citizens, have to understand that when the cops abuse the rights of minorities, they are abusing everyone's rights.

But I don't see that happening. I suspect that a significant fraction of the population would cheer on the scrapping of the Bill of Rights on the tenuous promise that the forces of order will keep them safe if only the police and FBI are allowed to search when they want, arrest anyone they please and torture whenever they desire.

I do believe that the vast majority of the Founding Fathers would be appalled to see what passes for liberty and freedom in this land. But damn few people give a shit.
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* Though to be fair, a lot of bloggers on the other side of the aisle have only concerned themselves about it since January, 2009. Better late then never, I suppose.