The following is Tim's February Op-ed article printed in the February 9 Free Press and is available to other newspapers:
Detroit police officers Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers have something in common with Malice Green -- the young man in whose death the two officers were convicted of second degree murder by a Detroit jury in 1993.
The three met for the first and last time in the early morning hours of November 5, 1992 on a near westside Detroit street. The officers, on routine patrol, became suspicious as soon as they spotted Mr. Green.
What was the 35-year-old black man doing that prompted the veteran, white officers to investigate his behavior? What was the "probable cause" to suspect he may have committed a crime?
He was sitting in a parked car which, contrary to their initial suspicions, a quick check confirmed was not stolen.
"Doing what?" one might well ask. Struggling with another person, perhaps? No. Brandishing a weapon? No. Screaming obscenities at passersby, then? No, he was just sitting there quietly. It wasn't so much his behavior as his location. The vehicle was parked outside a known crack house.
One can't help but wonder what the framers of our constitution would have thought of our contemporary definition of "probable cause." And it isn't just sitting quietly in a parked car, either. Courts have also recently ruled that merely matching a police profile can justify being subjected to scrutiny by the authorities. If you are Hispanic and like to dress nicely, be advised you ought not purchase an airplane ticket with cash. You may well find yourself detained and questioned.
Think you have the right to be protected from warrantless intrusions into your private property? No longer. This little "technicality" had to give way to the possibility that you may be destroying evidence in your home or transporting it in your vehicle. Well, okay, but at least your financial privacy remains, right? Sorry. Banks are now required to record all cash transaction of $3,000 or more and report to the government any that exceed $10,000. You could be a drug dealer trying to launder money.
And it's not just the Fourth amendment, either. Our government has managed to throw out (officials prefer to say "make exceptions to") major portions of the Bill of Rights in the quixotic quest to protect adult Americans from the consequences of their own bad habits.
Were you under the impression that your freedom of religion is guaranteed under the First amendment and that Congress can make no law "prohibiting the free exercise thereof"? Ask the Rostafarians who wish to use marijuana in their ceremonies. The courts have ruled that the holy cause of the Drug Jihad trumps the free exercise of religion. Had Catholics been a similarly small sect at the time one can't help but wonder what might have happened to their sacraments during our previous "noble experiment."
How would the drafters of the Fifth amendment prohibition against taking "life liberty or property without due process of law" have felt about the circumventing of this protection by the simple device of charging the property itself (which, of course, has no constitutional rights) instead of its owner (who does) under the new asset forfeiture rules? State of Michigan vs. one 1977 Pontiac. If it wasn't so tragic for the people involved, it would be laughable.
Then there's the Eighth amendment. Wouldn't losing the family home for the crime of not noticing that your teenager had a marijuana plant growing in the backyard be the kind of thing George Washington and Thomas Jefferson --hemp farmers, themselves -- had in mind when they prohibited "excessive fines"? Wouldn't the founders have considered it "cruel and unusual punishment" to impose the same penalty for possessing less than two pounds of certain refined plant produce as is imposed for first degree murder?
The common thread behind this evisceration of the individual rights that have historically distinguished Americans from all other peoples on earth is this: The only way to have even half a chance of enforcing any kind of prohibition is to eliminate the presumption of innocence. People must be presumed guilty and treated as such in everything from their banking to where they sit in a parked car until they can prove their innocence.
What do Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers and Malice Green have in common? All three have become casualties in the War on Drugs. Along with millions of others. And, most tragically of all, the United States Constitution.
After four years in prison the courts have overturned the convictions of both police officers because the emotionally charged setting, compounded by errors by the trial judge and some bizarrely inflammatory remarks by the mayor of the city, effectively denied them a fair trial. Budzyn's retrial has already begun. Prosecutors are expected to retry Nevers, as well.
But, at least for Malice Green, the War on Drugs was an unqualified success: he no longer takes cocaine and never will again.
Just wanted to make a quick mention of the free seminars offered to students interested in the classical liberal/libertarian tradition by the Institute for Humane Studies.
All information and applications are available via their web site at http://www.TheIHS.org
Participation is free!
IHS's weekend and week-long seminars are packed with interesting lectures, socializing, and lively discussion.
Participants hear lectures by distinguished faculty, and then pick their brains over meals, during free time, and in evening discussion groups... explore and debate the big questions of freedom and social order. And the seminars also provide valuable advice and tips on succeeding in school and in your career.
Apply By March 1 - No Application Fee
Gary Leff Program Director, Institute for Humane Studies 4084 University Dr., Suite 101 Fairfax, VA 22030-6812 1-800-697-8799 http://www.TheIHS.org[For students interested in the classical liberal tradition] [Scholarships up to $12,000, Free summer seminars] [Washington, DC internships with housing and stipend ]
Attention all affiliates: Ben Bachrach is updating the LPM Leadership Directory for 1998. Please send him a list of your current officers, including their name, title, address, day and night phone numbers, fax number, and e-mail address. We would like to have the directory ready to publish immediately after the convention. A copy of the directory will then be mailed to everyone listed. Please send information to Ben right now, at Ben45@aol.com or notify your chairman and ask him to mail the information to Ben at 604 N. Vernon, Dearborn, MI 48128. Don't delay! This is a very handy book -- let's make it as up-to-date and correct as we can!
Following the government report that when SUV's and cars collide, the car passengers sustain more injuries. It has been reported that the government will shortly issue a report indicating that when vehicles collide with bridge abutments, the passengers in cars are more likely to die or be injuried than the people who built the bridge. The policy recommendations for this study are still being formulated, but this lack of fairness will surely lead to some call to action.
From the Libertarian Party of Washtenaw County.
In our recent ad in the state newsletter, we omitted the address to which registrations should be sent for this year's Sam Adam's dinner in Ann Arbor.
The address is:
5805 New Meadow Drive Ypsilanti MI, 49197We appologize for the inconvenience this has caused.
This year the Sam Adams dinner will be an informal comedy night. Leave your jacket and ties at home and come as you are. Our guest will be Tim Slagle, Libertarian comedian from Chicago.
See http://www.coast.net/~lpm/wash/ for complete details or call Dan LaFavers (734) 483-5978 or James Hudler (734) 475-9792.
Don’t miss out! Nominations for the Libertarian Party’s slate of candidates in 1998 are coming up fast. Campaigning is fun! I never had so much fun as I did when I publicly humiliated two Congress Critters in the debate in my campaign in 1996.
The LPM still needs candidates to run educational campaigns at the upper levels. We have a couple of US Congressional races still open, and most of the Michigan Senate and Michigan State Rep seats are also unchallenged by Libertarians. With term limits ousting 66 State Reps this year, NOW is the time to test the waters, so to speak. No, very little is expected of educational candidates. We ask only that you fill out the questionnaires you receive (the League of Women Voters, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, etc.) and that you answer your invites to debates and candidate forums.
The Libertarian Congressional Committee (LCC) and the Libertarian Campaign Managers Association (LCMA) will do what it can to assist you in your campaign efforts. We will provide examples of answers to the questionnaires. We will conduct a “Guerrilla Campaign Tactics” seminar on September 12 and/or 13 to assist candidates in planning and implementing last minute campaign efforts, including debating skills. We will create boilerplate literature (put your name, your picture, and your bio on it and it will look like your very own creation). We will even provide a signage program, using our block negotiating power to reduce the cost per sign. And, if you put the word “LIBERTARIAN” or the statue of Liberty on it, we will drop the price even more !!! (The signage program is designed to improve “brand-name” recognition for the Libertarian Party.)
With 66 State Rep professional political trains being derailed this November, it is embarrassing for the LP to be contesting only 21 of our 110 State Rep races. PLEASE step forward now. We need you. Please give the Liberty Lovers in your community a chance to vote for Liberty! A political party that does not contest elections is quickly forgotten by the voters. We must run candidates throughout the state. It is an issue of credibility.
The Libertarian Party of Michigan will be nominating their candidates at affiliate meetings in March and at Convention on April 3-5, 1998 for partisan races in the general election of November 3, 1998. The nominating process begins at the local affiliate meeting in March. The local affiliate will establish a caucus for each county within the affiliate’s region by electing a Chair and a Secretary for that county’s caucus. 1998 candidates who will be running races in districts which wholly reside in one county may have their names entered into nomination either at the county caucus in March or at Convention. It is preferable for candidates of districts wholly contained in one county to enter their names in nomination at the March meetings as the business load at Convention will be heavy. An additional Convention Caucus will be held at Convention for Candidates of districts that reside (in whole or in part) in more than one county. In either case, the final vote to nominate candidates will be held at Convention.
All paperwork MUST be filed on Monday, April 6, 1998. The Caucus Chair and/or Secretary will file all paperwork for the caucus. Where to file an individual candidate’s paperwork depends on the caucus required for nomination. County Caucuses file paperwork at the County Clerk’s office. The Convention Caucus files paperwork at the Michigan Bureau of Elections.
Due to the heavy business load at Convention, all candidates are advised to obtain your candidate paperwork at the county meeting in March and fill it out in advance of Convention. Two, of the four, items will need to be notarized. There will be a notary at Convention, so please wait to sign those forms until you visit the notary. But, if you cannot attend the Convention, you may still be nominated. Please stop at a local bank (most have notaries) to have your paperwork notarized. Deliver the paperwork to your Caucus Chair in advance of Convention, so that the Chair will bring the paperwork to Convention.
Caucus Paperwork: Certificate of Nomination: a letter listing candidates nominated and signed by the Caucus Chair and Secretary.
Candidate Paperwork: 1. Certificate of Acceptance 2. Affidavit of Identity: (must be notarized) 3. Supplementary Affidavit of Identity: (must be notarized) 4. Statement of Organization for Candidate Committees: (Check the box on item 10 for reporting waiver which means you won’t have to file campaign finance forms unless you raise and/or spend more than $1000)
Step to the plate in 98 and help us create a full slate in 98. Now is the time, don’t be late!!!
If you intend to seek a nomination, please notify me (Doug MacDonald) by email at dm@compserv.net ...
Thanks ...
Thanks to everyone who made the 1998 LPM Leadership Conference in Saginaw on February 22 a success. A special thanks to our gracious and well-organized hosts, the Tri-City LP, led by the charismatic and enthusiastic chairman, Clint Foster.
Representatives from nine LPM affiliates and one college (the newest group at Delta College -- thanks to Jim Fitzpatrick) heard an inspiring address by Libertarian City Councilman Fred Collins and a positive “State of the LPM” address by Chairman Tim O’Brien (A positive “state of anything” address?? Is it possible??? Yes it is: 14% growth in membership, the publication of most of Tim’s “Op/Ed” articles, and a secure financial position. And no mealy-mouthed promises!)
Caucusing and nominating procedures were reviewed and this new communications program, "DIGITs" was unveiled. A terrific presentation was given by it's creator, Greg Dirasian.
Lots of ideas were discussed, lots of information was presented, and lots of laughs were shared. Thanks to everyone who participated -- and everyone that was there participated to some extent! It really was a good time. Thank you.
*** Buzzzzz Buzzzzz: A special note for attendees *** Now everyone, let’s get buzzing! Build those hives up so they’re nice and solid. And worker bees, let’s get busy supplying new members, candidates, money, and countless other projects for freedom! Happy Buzzing!
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