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Freedom Action of the Week
Email List Archive
Free-Market.Net's F r e e d o m A c t i o n o f t h e W e e k ------------------------------------------------------------------ Edited by Mary Lou Seymour. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this and other lists, click to: http://www.free-market.net/features/lists/ Second week of July 2002: Your papers, please Have you ever been peacefully driving down the road, minding your own business, perhaps on your way to work, to school, to the grocery store or just driving along, enjoying a beautiful summer day and breathing in the sweet air of freedom ... when suddenly you round a curve and ... uh-oh ... a roadblock? A line of cars with drivers patiently waiting for their papers to be checked. Some unfortunate souls pulled over on the shoulder, some even more unfortunate souls opening their trunks for an "on the spot" search. If you're like most of us, you quickly check to make sure your seatbelt's fastened, your gun is in the "right place" for your state, resignedly dig into your glove box for your registration and license and join the queue of cars, hoping "they" won't find anything out of order or not like your looks and make you join the other unfortunates on the shoulder. But doesn't the thought of having to hand over your papers to be able to proceed down a highway in a free country stick in your craw? Not to mention being searched on a public roadway? The state has turned our law enforcement agencies into "road Nazis" and our roads into Gestapo checkpoints. Maybe folks are willing to be rounded up like sheep and criminals. Maybe they feel safer that way. Maybe the cute names the government attaches to their statist roadblocks such as, "Click It or Ticket," "Booze It and Lose It" pacify the ignorant mind. But don't we have a right to freedom of movement and freedom from government harassment, and freedom from illegal searches and seizures? Roadblocks Registry, a project of the National Motorists Association, says "Roadblocks, as used in the U.S., are designed and intended to use fear, intimidation, and inconvenience to expedite a government edict or a political agenda." Their goal is to eliminate roadblocks through education, publicity, and litigation. They offer a variety of free publicity tools, a "steal this editorial" section on various motorist rights issues for you to use as letters to the editor, and a database of attorneys specializing in traffic issues. The National Motorists Association suggests "that you engage the roadblock process from the standpoint that the current courts find them legal and a legitimate law enforcement tactic. Therefore, there is little to gain by launching into a tirade over the constitutionality of roadblocks, at least while you are stopped at one. However, this is not to say that all your rights are null and void once you enter a roadblock." For invaluable tips on your rights at a roadblock, see Roadblock Registry's "What to do" page. But what if you'd like to avoid roadblocks, or, go a step further and help inform other freedom lovers of roadblock locations? Roadblocks Registry is compiling a registry of known and announced roadblocks, by state and county, as well as info on state legislation regarding roadblocks and publicity campaigns to eliminate roadblocks. Use and help build this valuable resource by going to their site and clicking on the appropriate links. A new organization, Flex Your Rights, is also working to train individuals to protect their civil liberties during police encounters and to assert their constitutional rights in order to avoid the hassle and humiliation of police misconduct and illegal searches. Flex Your Rights has information on what to do at roadblocks, as well as a downloadable flyer (Adobe Acrobat required) for you to print, copy, and hand out to educate others. For more information on your rights, R.J. Tavel's Freedom Law site has links to pro se materials on traffic stops, tickets, and right to travel, and, of course, there's the famous ACLU "bust card"... no purse, wallet or glove box should be without it. This week, let's take action in several ways: go to the Roadblocks Registry, see what roadblocks are in your "neck of the woods", and add any you know about. Print out the list of roadblocks in your county, and, print out some copies of the Flex Your Rights flyer, or the ACLU "bust card" and seed your community. Good places to leave flyers are at restaurants, bars and the restroom at your local DMV office. Knowing and asserting what rights we do still have and educating others to do the same will, hopefully, prevent or slow down further erosion of those rights. If you'd like to go a step further and warn others in your community about roadblocks _when_ they are occurring, you can make up some posterboard signs (Warning -- Roadblock Ahead) on tomato stakes and carry them in your back seat. Then, if you happen upon a roadblock, keep going about a half mile on the other side and plant your signs. Til next week... For freedom! Mary Lou ============================== National Motorists Association http://www.free-market.net/rd/249261617.html Roadblock Registry http://www.free-market.net/rd/250481702.html Flex your rights http://www.free-market.net/rd/603651928.html Flex your Rights Flyer http://www.free-market.net/rd/252561885.html Freedom Law http://www.free-market.net/rd/254281977.html ACLU "bust card" http://www.free-market.net/rd/255182075.html Action of the Week archive: http://www.free-market.net/features/list-archives/activism/maillist.html
In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
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