Why not search our homes, bedrooms?

Regarding the governor’s proposal to start allowing DUI sobriety checkpoints in Washington:

As a law-abiding resident of this state, with a deep appreciation for the hard-fought civil liberties we all enjoy, I can think of no greater tyranny than government authorities randomly seizing citizens without suspicion and subjecting them to unwarranted police investigation.

We must not forget how lucky we are to live in a state with a Constitution that provides strong protection for individual freedoms. Our founding fathers recognized that government always seeks to expand its power over its citizenry. That is why we have a Bill of Rights that carves out a sphere of protection for individual rights and explicitly limits the government’s ability to tread on our freedoms. The right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and to be free from government disturbance in our private affairs, are bedrock principles. In the interest of making us safer it can be tempting to want to cede some of these civil rights. But in the greater interest of protecting our most basic values, history teaches that we must ever be on guard against even the slightest erosion of these rights or we will risk losing them permanently.

Would random sobriety checkpoints allow police to find more impaired drivers? Probably. But in the name of safety and security, why stop there? How about random warrantless arrests of pedestrians? Or random searches of people’s homes and bedrooms? Everyone’s a suspect! This would certainly have a deterrent effect on all kinds of crimes and increase the number or criminals that could be caught. It would probably make our communities a lot safer, too. But it’s no America where I would want to live.

Adam J. Yanasak