A Monthly Newsletter from The Rutherford Institute • october 2012
The Politics of Fear in America:
A Nation at War with Itself
Turn on the TV or flip open the newspaper on any given day, and you
will find yourself accosted by reports of government corruption,
corporate malfeasance, militarized police and marauding SWAT teams.
America is entering a new phase, one in which children are arrested in
schools, military veterans are forcibly detained
by government agents because of the content of their Facebook posts,
farmers are harassed by militarized police forces for hosting pumpkin
carving parties, and law-abiding Americans are being subjected to the
latest in government spy technology.
Having abdicated our responsibilities as citizens, we have ceded power to bureaucrats and government officials who, with our tacit approval, continue to dismantle our basic rights while providing an illusion of safety and security. This lack of ownership and unwillingness to engage in self-government on the part of the American people has, in turn, given rise to the rapid militarization of the police over the past 40 years and the criminalization of non-threatening activities such as hosting a Bible study, handing out free water on a hot day, and expressing one’s political views online. With these activities being regulated and criminalized at an alarming rate, we come to find that we are the criminals in the eyes of the government. Indeed, federal and state prosecutors are now able to accuse any average person of a litany of crimes, all of which could result in steep fines and prison time, for engaging in regular, daily activities.
Thankfully, when Americans find themselves in the inexplicable position of actually having to defend themselves against a governmental bureaucracy intent on asserting its authority, The Rutherford Institute is there to help. As you’ll see from this month’s Faith and Freedom, Rutherford attorneys are battling in and out of the courts, defending the rights of airline passengers abused by TSA agents, preachers silenced for speaking in public, and schoolchildren who have been suspended and expelled for minor infractions under egregious zero tolerance policies. As John Whitehead remarked following a recent Rutherford Institute victory, “The democratic process can and does work, provided that Americans care enough to take a stand and make their discontent heard. The best way to ensure that your government officials hear you is by never giving up, never backing down, and never remaining silent. As Samuel Adams pointed out, ‘It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires in people’s minds.’”
Having abdicated our responsibilities as citizens, we have ceded power to bureaucrats and government officials who, with our tacit approval, continue to dismantle our basic rights while providing an illusion of safety and security. This lack of ownership and unwillingness to engage in self-government on the part of the American people has, in turn, given rise to the rapid militarization of the police over the past 40 years and the criminalization of non-threatening activities such as hosting a Bible study, handing out free water on a hot day, and expressing one’s political views online. With these activities being regulated and criminalized at an alarming rate, we come to find that we are the criminals in the eyes of the government. Indeed, federal and state prosecutors are now able to accuse any average person of a litany of crimes, all of which could result in steep fines and prison time, for engaging in regular, daily activities.
Thankfully, when Americans find themselves in the inexplicable position of actually having to defend themselves against a governmental bureaucracy intent on asserting its authority, The Rutherford Institute is there to help. As you’ll see from this month’s Faith and Freedom, Rutherford attorneys are battling in and out of the courts, defending the rights of airline passengers abused by TSA agents, preachers silenced for speaking in public, and schoolchildren who have been suspended and expelled for minor infractions under egregious zero tolerance policies. As John Whitehead remarked following a recent Rutherford Institute victory, “The democratic process can and does work, provided that Americans care enough to take a stand and make their discontent heard. The best way to ensure that your government officials hear you is by never giving up, never backing down, and never remaining silent. As Samuel Adams pointed out, ‘It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires in people’s minds.’”
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