--Richard Nixon endorsing Barry Goldwater's presidential
campaign in 1964.
Giving power to anyone to enforce laws on the basis of
character is bad governance. If the
enforcer has a bad character, you have done nothing but empower rank
prejudice. Tricky Dick is but one
example among hundreds which can be found.
Profiling is a threat to liberty in all circumstances.
Profiling is nothing more and nothing less than inferring unlawful
character from appearances and opinion.
Character inference is then used to construct inferences about behavior
and propensities. If the propensities lead
an enforcement official to believe that a person is intending to break the law
then the enforcement official decides to take the next step. The corruption is to use “character” to prevent
the supposed violation by investigation and premature intervention.
A great fictional lawman of an earlier time had a term for this technique:
“nip it Ange. You got to nip it in the
bid!”
Just as Barney Fife was the object of ridicule for his simplistic and autocratic methods, all
of us should be revolted by profiling, not selectively but absolutely. Count me in the camp that rejects profiling
in all its forms. Profiling is merely
prejudice, cloaked in law.
So, let me be clear.
It was wrong and unlawful to scrutinize applications for 501(c)(3)
status based upon keywords. And so, I
condemn the IRS decision to use the terms “tea party” and “patriot” to single
out 501(c) (3) applications for extra scrutiny.
Just because you used those words in your name does not mean that the
purpose of your group was to influence elections. Wrong.
Nip it, Ange! This was bad. It should be stopped. Those responsible should be held accountable. Count me in!
Profiling is a pernicious evil and should be condemned. Fundraising will tea-partying is no crime.
Now let’s talk about the law enforcement profiling that has
impacted far more Americans’ civil liberties for far longer: racial profiling and religious
profiling. North Carolina’s Republican
Party is counting on the fact that profiling Democrats is perfectly legal when
deciding whether they should be allowed to cast a vote in their
newly-gerrymandered dollar store districts.
Those folks need to show their papers,
especially the poors and those folks who were alive when FDR saved the country. But hopefully, they recognize that profiling
folks for their race and their religious beliefs is also despicable. So where is their outrage?
Driving
while Hispanic is apparently a basis for being stopped in Alamance County,
North Carolina. Where is Congressman
Issa’s outrage on this “profiling? What
about Driving While Black? No
outrage left for that one, either Mr. Issa?
What about Flying
while Muslim?
