Oppose Nickels’ Seattle Police State
Seattle is not a dangerous city. It is normally a pleasant one in which to live.
The LAST thing we need is to turn our peaceful city into some sort of soviet-state gulag where every street corner has the Gestapo waiting to arrest us under the guise of “protecting us” from big, bad, evil guns.
People in the United States gave themselves protection from unreasonable searches and seizures with the fourth amendment to the US constitution. It is one of the most important protections from government tyranny. We understand that what begins with “protecting us” from guns quickly becomes arresting us for being outside past our curfew without government issued identification cards.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels wants to ignore this important protection against government abuses of power. He wants to give police the authority — and duty — to search everyone without cause. When did Seattle become willing to hand their right to privacy over to the police? Are we now governed by the same culture of fear which allows our federal government to spy on our emails and throw people in secret prisons for years without pressing charges?
Why did Greg Nickels support this measure? Does he lust for power or just not understand the proper role of government?
We need more mayors like Montesano’s Ron Schillinger. He decided to defend Americans’ fourth amendment right to freedom from unreasonable searches; his veto of Nickels’ requirement to search everyone on government property is a good one. The more such men make decisions like these in government, the further protected we are from a tyrannical police state overthrowing our constitutional republic.