First, a refresher-
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
-The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
So I was out with some friends last night when another acquaintance texted us a warning. Apparently, all the murders, rapes, robberies, and frauds have been solved in my part of N.C., because the local police were out in force manning an alcohol checkpoint on I-40.
Now, not being drunk, I didn’t have too much to fear from a breathalyzer test. I was, however, quite concerned about my Constitutional rights, which appeared to be in grave danger. As it turned out, by the time I left an hour or two later, the checkpoint was gone and I drove home without incident.
But I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. And it wasn’t just from the one Miller Light I drank.
There are a lot of things we can do to make everyone safe. We can cover the whole state in bubble wrap, for instance. Or we can impose curfews on everyone. We can take away all guns, knives, clubs, and Neil Diamond CD’s so that no one has a deadly weapon. Or we can implant chips in everyone’s head that respond to Dick Cheney’s garage door opener.
But we don’t do these things because they’re unconstitutional infringements on our basic liberties. Except for the bubble wrap idea, which, I admit, would be kinda cool to try.
Alcohol or DWI checkpoints are what I call “velvet chains”. They are an unconstitutional abridgement of your basic rights… but with a smiley-face. And who can resist a friendly smiley-face from the government? Done ostensibly to “protect you”, DWI checkpoints might keep you safe from drunk drivers (although even that’s questionable), but exposes you to a more terrifying and insidious threat. And yes, I realize courts have upheld these checkpoints. Y’know what? Five U.S. Supreme Court Justices just said that Al-freakin’-Qaeda members have constitutional rights, so spare me. Here’s an idea- if we get the Gitmo Boys drunk and send them through a DWI checkpoint, maybe THAT will the ACLU off our backs.
Look, go back up and re-read the 4th Amendment. Done? Good. Now, tell me where exactly it says that government agents (police) can stop my car without cause. Sure, police have a right to pull you over if you’re driving erratically, speeding, or breaking a clearly defined traffic law. But they can’t pull you over, detain you, and essentially search you for no reason other than the fact that they want to. How is that possibly Constitutional?
Remember, “they that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” That quote is incorrectly attributed to Ben Franklin, but it’s true nonetheless. I’m against drunk driving or any other sort of activity that puts me in danger as I drive home at night. But I’m more opposed to the gradual erosion of basic rights that, even 50 years ago, we would have fought to protect. Too many people these days seem all to willing to turn over more and more of their “essential liberty” to the government in return for some nebulous promise of “safety”. Safety from what? The thing is this world I’m probably most afraid of, aside from Neil Diamond, is an overbearing government barging into my private life with the goal of “protecting” me. As if I’m not an adult and capable of doing that on my own.
Do you want to cut down on drunk driving? Then don’t drink before you drive, and tell your friends not to either.
Do you want those who DO drink and drive to be punished? Good, so do I. So let’s take the police off these checkpoints and put them back on road patrols where they can clearly see erratic drivers and pull them over constitutionally.
It’s time for us to decide what are priorities are. Is it safety above all else? A nice, comfy, government-provided cushion? Or is your priority freedom? Yes, some drunk jerk with a car might, by chance, be able to kill me some night. But government can do worse. Government can take away the very reason to be alive- to live free. Government can make me a slave to my own concerns and wants. And when it does it will never let me experience freedom again.
“Really?”, you say. All that from a DWI checkpoint? As long as we allow it to stand, yes. The death of freedom takes a slow and meandering road. And last night it was on I-40 in Raleigh.