Whatever Happened to the Bill of Rights?
Information courtesy of getmadd.com
"The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe."
---H.L. Mencken
Whatever Happened to the Bill of Rights?
Updated to reflect more freedom restrictions on May 5, 2005
Note: This article contains a lot of statements that sound unbelievable. After reading it please check out the links to other pages which provide further evidence of its veracity. (There will be some differences in the laws from state to state.)
Freedom sometimes gets put on the back burner when we think "safety" on emotionally charged issues that may affect innocent children. Many Constitutional safeguards have been weakened or ignored in the supposed effort of protecting our kids.
This is especially true when it comes to drunk driving. Legally drunk is now a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of just .08. Previous legal limits were .15, then .12 and most recently .10. Two to three drinks may put you over the limit depending on your size, so the social drinker may be a drunk driver even if he show no visible signs of impairment.
Alcohol laws fall under powers reserved for the states according to the 10th Amendment. Well, they used to. The new .08 law is a federal mandate. The states don't have to adopt it if they don't mind losing millions of dollars in federal money each year. Blackmail is such a nasty word, call it an incentive.
DUI (Driving Under the Influence) is a per se law. All states have it. You can count backwards flawlessly while hopping on one foot, walk a tightrope between two police cars and pass every field sobriety test in the book. It doesn't matter. The .08 BAC per se law says you are legally drunk if you breathe a .08 into the little machine. End of argument.