Threat or mistake?

Congress creates an average of one new federal crime every week! The mindset that all Americans are presumed to be as corrupt as congressmen is carried throughout government agencies at every level. So, federal regulatory agencies add even more federal crimes, unchecked by a corrupt and incompetent Congress. The same behavior is repeated at the state and local levels. The result is that, statistically, the average American commits three felonies per day!

There are countless examples of how this affects us commoners in daily life:

A campaign staffer for presidential candidate and congressman Ron Paul was transporting several thousand dollars of recently donated campaign funds. While checking his personal effects for threats to aviation safety, the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) found the money. Instead of asking themselves how this find related to their job (protecting the safety of the flight), their mindset (let's catch this guy in a crime) took over. They presumed that any person with substantial cash is a drug dealer, bank robber, or terrorist and must be punished. The traveler had other characteristics that The DHS (Department of Homeland Security, parent agency of the TSA) and other government agencies have determined to be typical of terrorists:

It is not uncommon for militia members to display Constitution Party, Campaign for Liberty or Libertarian material. These members are usually supporters of former presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr. -- Warning to law enforcement issued 20 Feb 2009 by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (DHS has issued similar notices)

Nobody ever asked the simple question, "Is this guy a threat to the flight or is this an honest mistake or is this even legal and proper?" That is, after all, the TSA's job!

A wise person with a concealed firearm permit uses that permit daily. He or she is in the habit of carrying a gun everywhere allowed. It becomes as natural as putting on socks when getting dressed. Occasionally one of these poor souls inadvertently carries that gun into an area where the gun is prohibited. Some of those gun-free areas make sense. Others are purely arbitrary. When a person who is in the habit of carrying a gun at all times is found doing so at an airport, the TSA pounces on him as if he is a living Mohamed Atta. Nobody ever asks the simple question, "Is this guy a threat to the flight or is this an honest mistake and can we simply have him put the gun in his checked luggage?" That is, after all, the TSA's job!

What is the root of this let's-find/create-a-criminal-at-all-costs mindset? A desire to control the people and the evils of asset forfeiture -- a topic for another blog entry.