(Originally appeared in the Telluride Daily Planet on 12/13/2005)
Letters to the Editor - In Rosa's footsteps
Dear Editor,
Deborah Davis is charged with a federal criminal misdemeanor for refusing to show identification to federal agents, while riding a public bus. She declined to relinquish her right to "be secure in (her) persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" without "probable cause."
The bus Ms. Davis rides crosses the property of the Denver Federal Center, a collection of government offices, not a high security area. Rather than just refuse her entry, federal agents forcibly arrested Ms. Davis.
With the recent passing of national ID legislation and portions of the Patriot Act up for sunsetting, this case is timely.
Do ID's really improve our security a little at the cost of a little liberty? It is not hard to imagine criminals obtaining false identification, and what of innocents who wish to attend events in anonymity, such as an anti-war or anti-POTUS protest, a pro-choice or pro-life demonstration, or a gun show? No one wants to be on a "no ride" list.
(The charges against Deborah Davis were finally dropped on Friday, after the writing of this letter.)
Mandatory demonstration of identification domestically may improve security some. It is not appropriate, however, in a free society. Benjamin Franklin said, "The society who gives up liberty for security will wake up one day with neither!" There is a true threat from violent groups who have harmed us for over thirty years. Making ourselves less free, however, does not protect us. The ultimate in security is jail and the slave labor camp. There is no moral median between these and true freedom.
Libertarians believe a foreign policy of nonintervention, peace, and free trade protects us significantly better than an authoritarian police state. One of the few true functions of government is to protect its citizens from force. Libertarians believe in defensive and punitive force, but not the initiation of force, even by a well-intentioned government. We prefer our federal protective agencies utilized its resources to capture and restrain violent criminals rather than punishing law-abiding citizens. There are constitutional methods available to them to accomplish their task successfully.
Sincerely,
Marc Guttman, Chairman
San Miguel County Libertarian Party