Erosion of rights and complacency

Those who forget or ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

I know that’s not new. I also know that’s what is happening. Of course, if we allow police and government to pry more deeply into our privacy we will stop more crime. Of course, if we allow unfettered abuse of the Fifth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure we will catch more criminals. And there can be no doubt that due process can make prosecution of the accused more difficult. Those protections were put in place by people who had been through a huge learning experience in the wrongful and horrendous persecution that must necessarily result from not having them.

It is significant that the government press for a “middle ground” can only erode those protections. It is also worth noting that all of the controversy around Snowden is about whether or not he is a traitor and not about whether or not the information he disclosed is clear evidence that there is wanton intent to shift government policy dramatically toward a police state. Probable cause has been so thoroughly abused that one is afraid to insist upon it for fear of being accused of resisting arrest or even interfering with a police investigation.

We have marched backward so far that young minority males are living with the reality that refusing to accede to wrongful detention is an open invitation to being shot dead. History has proved that a civilized society can only lose by this.

Harold R. Pettus

Everett