Homeland Tyranny Brought to You by the Feds and ABC

By Pete Eyre | 6 January 2009

images As we’ve noted on other posts (here and here), the drug war has utterly decimated the U.S. Constitution. Couple that harm (expansion of government surveillance, arrest powers, and punitive sentences) with policies that seek to prevent the free movement of people (here) and you’ve set the stage for one hell of an authoritarian regime. And now it’s being brought to your living room courtesy of ABC’s new show “Homeland Security U.S.A.” which debuts tonight.

The show’s “About” page notes that:

[V]iewers will get an unprecedented look at the work of these men and women while they use the newest technology to safeguard our country and enforce our laws . . .They have a job that is dangerous, difficult and always unpredictable.

During Prohibition the job of law enforcement (those that weren’t on the pay of the mob) was dangerous too, but that didn’t make the law any more just.

My colleague (and recent Podcrash guest) Cord Blomquist has a principled overview of “Homeland Security U.S.A.” over at OpenMarket.org, where he states:

Seeing criminals caught red-handed (think “America’s Most Wanted”) is usually satisfying, but when it’s for the victimless crime of transporting drugs, there’s little to be excited about. . . . I hope Americans see this show and sees it for what it is, a naked admission of just how out of control government has become.

Cord is absolutely right. Even if you don’t agree with the use of drugs it’s clear that the war on drugs is much worse, for individuals targeted by draconian laws, families ripped apart due to the imprisonment of one (or more) parent, the misallocation of law enforcement resources and the impact abroad. As for immigration, though this issue ultimately comes down to property rights, anti-immigrant rhetoric has allowed the government to take a more police state-like approach.

But, perhaps “Homeland Security U.S.A.” will be a blessing in disguise in that it’ll outrage the viewers about just how far the government has the “legal” authority to go now and how many of their freedoms have been usurped to enforce failed policies.

For more on this, check out the Homeland Tyranny and ImmiGREAT overviews on Bureaucrash Social and if you want to share your views with others, why not rock a ImmiGREAT or Stop Statism t-shirt from our Contraband store?