STOP Stealing Our Wealth, Opportunity And Security!
Freedom, IN – Since 1970’s Bank Secrecy Act, banks must report large financial transactions to federal agents. Since then, the reporting requirements have gotten tougher, more expansive, and secretive. For example, the “Suspicious Activity Report†invokes a gag order, and nullifies the already-lowered dollar limit such that any financial activity at all may be secretly monitored by federal agents.
Some might think increasing secrecy, power and spying is good; that it keeps us safe.
But voters make decisions on information that is increasingly missing or proven false. It’s foolish to believe that politicians we claim we don’t trust are honest with us when it comes to programs that actually fund their cronyism; like “civil asset forfeiture†programs.
While few know it, police forces now take more money and property from USA citizens by “civil asset forfeiture†(as opposed to “criminal asset forfeiture,†which requires a conviction) than do all other criminals, combined.
This “forfeiture†at gun point doesn’t require charges of any crime, or any warrant. Increasingly, this is done with foreknowledge of money movement provided by devices like the “Electronic Recovery and Access to Data†or ERAD (as in eradicate?) machine, which uses data harvest initially intended to fight drug trade and terrorism, but is in practice irrelevant to either, and is allowed to fund police departments.
This is armed highway robbery. This “policing for profit†must be stopped, not expanded.
But just this week, US House Rep. Larry Bucshon touted his support of, among other anti-constitutional bills, H.R. 5607, the Enhancing Treasury’s Anti-Terror Tools Act.
ETATTA did not go through regular order, and was rushed to the floor under suspension of the rules. No amendments were considered, debate was limited, and, as usual, few representatives actually read the bill before voting on it.
This carelessness is apparent in the practical force of the law proposed – that in violation of the USA Constitution’s Article I Section I, Article II Section I, Article III Section I, and Amendment IV, bureaucrats in executive agencies are granted even more power to write rules, judge their efficacy and infractions, and at least recommend, and ultimately execute, new actions as already imposed upon Americans as by the ERAD device, without warrant, probably cause, or conviction of any crime. Furthermore, ETATTA expands the role of the Treasury’s power of spying and enforcement to non-monetary assets – essentially encompassing all property.
Politicians have blurred the lines between good-guy and bad-guy, dividing us by class and race, imprisoning a higher percentage of citizens than any other nation, and making us less secure and prosperous to boot.
In other words, government has become what it’s supposed to protect us from.
I have a plan to restore respect for the badge and restore faith in all our important institutions. It’s an already well-respected plan to not only police the police and govern government, but also to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
Liberty or Bust!
Andrew Horning
Libertarian for 8th District US House of Representatives
