Government Cannot Be Trusted To Police Itself

BY  Chuck Baldwin
So many of the words and warnings delivered by America’s FoundingFathers are appropriate for today. Consider this sage counsel fromAmerica’s first and greatest President, George Washington: “Governmentis not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is adangerous servant and a fearful master.” I was reminded of these wordswhen I read the following report out of the State of Indiana.

“Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of1215, the Indiana Supreme Court [ISC] ruled Thursday [May 12, 2011] that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into theirhomes.
“In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court saidif a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer’s entry.”

Justice Robert Rucker and Justice Brent Dickson dissented from theruling, saying the court’s decision violates the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution.

“In my view the majority sweeps with far too broad a brush byessentially telling Indiana citizens that government agents may nowenter their homes illegally-that is, without the necessity of a warrant, consent or exigent circumstances,” Rucker said.

The NW Indiana Times also reported, “This is the second major Indiana Supreme Court ruling this week involving police entry into a home.

“On Tuesday, the court said police serving a warrant may enter a home without knocking if officers decide circumstances justify it. Prior tothat ruling, police serving a warrant would have to obtain a judge’spermission to enter without knocking.”
See the report at:

http://tinyurl.com/3kae4zy
Shortly after the ISC decision, Newton County Sheriff Donald Hartman, Sr. said he believes the ruling makes house-to-house searches possible. According to a report at Infowars.com, Sheriff Hartman “made it clearthat he would use random house to house searches if he believed it wasnecessary.”
The Infowars.com report also correctly notes that it was years ofillegal searches and seizures and seizures of the American colonists(along with the attempt to seize the colonists’ firearms) that led ourforebears to resist the British government with force on April 19, 1775, at Lexington Green and Concord Bridge which ignited America’s War forIndependence.
See the report at:

http://tinyurl.com/3dhnx59
It may be helpful at this point to rehearse the Fourth Amendment tothe US Constitution. “The right of the people to be secure in theirpersons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches andseizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but uponprobable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularlydescribing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to beseized.”

With this ruling, the ISC effectively told the citizens of the Stateof Indiana that the Fourth Amendment is null and void in their State.And Sheriff Donald Hartman has effectively said that he will treat thecitizens of Newton County in much the same way that King George treatedAmerica’s colonists–or the way Stalin’s or Mao’s police treated theenslaved subjects of the former Soviet Union and Communist China.

And what is also disturbing is the way government, at every level, seems unwilling to police itself.
The reason the US Constitution limited the jurisdiction and authority of the federal government and left states with their own jurisdictionand (broader) authority was to serve as a check and balance against thetyrannical tendencies of the central government. Today, however, acts of tyranny seem to be taking place as frequently on the State and locallevels as it is at the federal level. This story out of the HoosierState is only the latest example.

Does anyone find it more than interesting (and even paradoxical) that while the US military is being used more and more as internationalpolicemen, local and State law enforcement personnel are often beingused more and more like military troops (and taking on the appearance,procedures, and tactics of military troops)?
Traditionally, it was never the role of local and State lawenforcement personnel to act like soldiers. Police officers have no“enemy” to seek out and destroy. Their job is to protect, not punish.The citizens of their State, county, or city are not the enemy.

I recently had a well-meaning police lieutenant tell me that hisprimary concern was that his officers were protected. That is all welland good, and I certainly understand his concern for his officers.However, when a man or woman puts on the uniform of a police officer (or sheriff’s deputy), he or she is saying that they are willing tosacrifice their lives in order to make sure that the citizens of theircommunity stay protected. The “us versus them” attitude of many policeofficers today is very harmful to the principles of freedom and liberty.

In the above-mentioned story, it was the judiciary branch of theIndiana State government that was unwilling to hold the executive branch of the Indiana State government accountable to the principles ofliberty and constitutional government. Once again, we see thatgovernment cannot be trusted to police itself.

If the State of Indiana had constitutionalist sheriffs (and surelythere must be a few of them), they would have immediately renounced theISC decision, and made it clear that they would never allow theirdeputies to operate in the tyrannical manner approved by the court’sdastardly decision. The same should have been true for Indiana’s policechiefs. Was there such a response? If there was, the media ignored it.

Furthermore, Indiana’s governor should have immediately renounced the ISC’s decision and issued an executive order forbidding State and local law enforcement personnel from complying with this unconstitutionaldecision. Again, if he did this, we didn’t hear about it, did we?

The propensity of government is not only to build and strengthenitself, but also to protect itself. This is true at every level ofgovernment. It is up to “We the People” to hold our civil magistratesaccountable to constitutional government. And this is most efficientlydone at the State level.

The citizens of Indiana can put a stop to this nonsense if they areof a mind to do so. They should rise as one in opposition to the court’s opinion; they should rise as one in demanding the resignations of thethree justices who affirmed this draconian decision; they should rise as one in demanding the resignation of Newton County Sheriff DonaldHartman (and any other sheriff who expressed similar views); they should rise as one in demanding that the Indiana governor publicly repudiatethis opinion and that he sign an EO countering it; and they should riseas one in making sure that every elected official in Indiana knows thatthe people of the Hoosier State will not sit back and allow theirliberties to be trampled on in such an egregious fashion.

As I have said in past columns, liberty will be won or lost at theState level. All this talk about “saving America” is just that: talk. If we are serious about protecting and preserving our liberties, we willwork to ensure that our individual State is the vanguard of freedom–notthe instrument of its demise. If we cannot convince our State and localgovernments to protect our liberties, we are dreaming if we think we are going to convince Washington, D.C., to do the same.

The decision of the Indiana Supreme Court and the public statementsof Sheriff Donald Hartman prove that George Washington was spot-on:government is a “fearful master.”

Freedom-loving Hoosiers need to stand up NOW!

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