I said I was done, but I guess I can't resist. I am gratified to see that there are a few people who see what I am saying.
People need to read the great works of literature and study history. Read 1984 or Animal Farm. In 1984 the government was in a constant state of war against an enemy who was characterized by the government as the epitomy of evil. Periodically, a former enemy would become an ally against an enemy who was once an ally. All of this was the backdrop against and the framework for an enormous police state. Does any of this sound familiar? Today we fighting and indefinitely long war against implacably evil terrorist. The leading terrorist was once our ally against the implacably evil Communist Russians. The Russians, lead by a former head of the KGB, are now our allies against the terrorist. Don't get me wrong, I am not a conspiracy theorist. If there were as many conspiracies as some people think there are, I figure I would have gotten to be in on one by now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> But what some don't seem to realize is that it doesn't take a conspiracy or a bunch of evil plotters for things to go to hell in a handbasket.
How do LEOs play into all of this. Our government is becoming increasingly distant and authorative. New laws are constantly being made and the penalties are becoming increasingly stiff. Acts that were not crimes a short time ago are now serious felonies. Simultaneously, the Police are trained to become increasingly violent. The so-called "War on Terror" has lead to talks of repealing the Possee Commitatus law and allowing the military to take an increasing role in law enforcement. The lines are already stretched with the military providing training and equipment to the police. The police also have a much more militaristic attitude.
Increasingly, police see lawbreakers as "them" or "scum" or some other unsavory adjective. They are trained to use overwhelming force to intimidate and to protect themselves. Increasingly, the laws they are enforcing are more restrictive and their methods more harsh.
Listen, I don't know about you, but I do not believe that a state that uses its officers to intimidate its citizens into obeying laws is compatible with true freedom. I suspect many of the opinions on this board are based on the fact that the police are not busting into your house and you have no reasonable expectation that they ever will. If they were, then your opinions would be greatly different, I suspect. As gunowners, most of us on the board should be aware of the possibility of becoming instant outlaws. It could just as easily happen with some other law.
Now, I will address the individual attitudes of the police themselves. Many police are fine individuals. But as I stated earlier, many of the SS and the Polezei in Nazi Germany were as well. In the Nazi system, they defined the Jews and the criminals as "Untermenschen" or sub-human scum. These characterizations allowed them to commit these horrible crimes because the scum "deserved", if not for their acts, then for what they were. I see the same kinds of adjectives being applied to drug criminals and others today. By dehumanizing the criminals and other enemies, it allows LEOs or others to treat them with extreme force, because, after all, they are scum. Am I saying our LEOs are like Nazis? No, of course not, but I see some of the same trends occurring now that occurred then.
Now comes the definition of criminals. We all admit that many things are crimes that didn't used to be and that there are new crimes created every day. Pair this with the attitude that all criminals are scum and it becomes very clear that there is a widening gulf between the LEO and the average guy. What if there is a major terrorist strike here (WMD or something) and some sort of marshall law is imposed and (for instance) it becomes a crime to be outside of you home after dark in some areas. Do you think that LEOs with their training in the use of force, and their attitudes towards criminals will give you a chance to explain that your car broke down before you could get home and stranded you out in the city after curfew before they break your skull. All of this seems increasingly less far fetched.
One last story I forgot to relate earlier. When I was in law school a fellow student related that his father was on the FBI HRT and that he had been at Waco. This student thought it was just hilarious that after the fire, the HRT guys had T-shirts made that said something to the effect that, "I was at the great Waco Weenie-roast". I have no way of knowing if he was telling the truth, but if he was, the fact that Federal agents would joke about the deaths of over 80 women and children in a cauldron of fire... well... I think all hope is gone anyway.
These are my fears. Laugh if you want, but everything I see shows us going deeper into the abyss. If we are to become a police state, then the LEOs will be our keepers. I see it heading that way and I see a divided system developing with our masters, the LEOs, doing what they please,from driving 90 down the interstate but giving you a ticket if you do, to much more serious corruption.
As a Christian and someone who believes in individual accountability, I absolutely reject the notion that LEOs are not responsible for their training or their enforcement of current laws. We hung concentration camp guards who were just following their training and were following orders and the laws in force. Remember, Hitler was elected. Everyone must take a stand and be on the side of right and wrong and good and evil. If an LEO shoots someone wrongly because he was trained to act overly aggressively, he will answer to God for his crime in the end. If he shoots someone whose only crime was to have joint or something else, he will answer to God in the end. Most LEOs are not bad people but the system is bad and is getting worse. In the end, you will be held accountable for being part of an increasingly bad (if not evil) system. We all have freewill and individual choice.
