Right off the bat, let me get this out of the way. There was no martial law. So, this morning, when Dan Calabrese took Libertarians to task for their positions, he was partially correct. When there's a mad bomber running from a few thousand cops, your best bet is to stay out of the way. Hunkering down was probably the smart thing to do. However, the suggestion that this was some kind of Michael Bay movie where the government rolled into the streets and declared true martial law...well, it's just not the case.
As State Trooper Todd Nolan told TIME magazine, “This is a request that the public stay inside and they are adhering to it. There has been no law mentioned or any idea that if you went outside you’d be arrested.”
So, if you're on the "martial law" bandwagon, yeah, you're going too far.
However, Libertarians have a point when it comes to the house to house searches in Watertown. Various sources are reporting that SWAT teams which conducted the searches asked permission to enter homes because they had no warrants. Yet, there are conflicting reports regarding the level of pressure that was used to compel residents to acquiesce.
Are we really so blind that we can’t see where a “request” from a heavily armed and armored SWAT team on your front porch might be difficult to refuse?
A homeowner has every right to refuse a warrantless search. If indeed there was ANY coercion, implied or otherwise, this is a direct violation of the 4th Amendment, there's nothing routine about it, and there is no justification.
There are similar concerns about Mirandizing the suspect, and the apparent decision to hold him as an "enemy combatant" so that he can be interrogated before he "lawyers up." This approach was championed by none other than Lindsey Graham and John McCain who released a statement Friday.
"It is clear the events we have seen over the past few days in Boston were an attempt to kill American citizens and terrorize a major American city," the statement reads. "The accused perpetrators of these acts were not common criminals attempting to profit from a criminal enterprise, but terrorists trying to injure, maim, and kill innocent Americans."
Our two favorite RINOs evidently believe that motive in a crime now determines whether you are allowed your rights. Sorry, but no. Is he an enemy? Absolutely, but however much we may not like it, the suspect is also an American. We can argue all day long about the federal failures that allowed him to achieve that honor, but the fact is he was – unfortunately - granted citizenship. As such, he is entitled to all of the rights and protections due any other American. The concept of the "enemy combatant" simply doesn't apply.
If we don't like that, we should be more careful about the individuals to whom we grant access. We shouldn't be struggling to diminish the Constitution out of convenience simply because we foolishly gave its protections to the wrong people.
It’s unsurprising that this attitude comes from John McCain, a man who fought long and hard to grant the President the right to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without trial.
We all want to see justice done - Tsarnaev and any potential allies should face death for their crimes – but we mustn't throw away our rights to make it happen. Once we allow the government to tread upon the rights of one - even if he is a horrible, monstrous, and deeply unpopular suspect - how long will it be before they feel confident enough to do it at will?
Dan says of Libertarians that they “are a mob made up of selfish individuals, who are completely incapable of community-mindedness."
I don’t even know where to begin with how wrong he is, so I’ll just say this:
The slippery slope argument has proven true when it comes to taxation, gun control, censorship, political correctness, and governmental overreach in virtually every sphere of federal influence. Yet somehow, we’re supposed to believe that it doesn’t apply to search and seizure or due process?
Demanding your rights, and fighting for them, used to be the hallmark of this nation. It is the reason for its existence, and the truest expression of the American spirit.
If a refusal to relinquish God-given, constitutionally protected, rights makes a man "selfish," I will be proud to wear that label.
