Subject: Re: Subject: U.S.A. (The Police State)
         
         I am a twenty-two year old student of physics and mathematics.
 This is not of directly relevance to the story, but it adds flavor.
 Tonight, I decided to take a short walk outside to clear my head of my
 studies and get a (very) little exercise.  It was 1:00 in the morning, but
 that was not important since I live in a college town, and I have been
 making walks of this sort with and without friends for four years.  The
 ground was covered with fresh rain, and the brisk air cleared my thoughts
 as I relaxed a bit and just focused on perceiving things around me.
         Suddenly a car is passing.  I step up onto the curb to avoid
 getting in the way, and it pulls diagonally in front of me.  I realized
 immediately it was an undercover police car.  "No big deal," I thought.  I
 was in fact, glad that he was checking to see if I was up to no good.
 Made me feel safe. At least for a moment.  He shines an annoyingly bright
 light in my face and says "Hi there."  "Hello," I reply, squinting with my
 hand up to shield my eyes.  "What'r you out doin here tonight?" he asks.
 "Just going for a walk," I say.  (I wasn't in the mood to call him "sir"
 since respect is a two way street and so far he didn't seem to be giving
 any...besides, I thought to myself, you do not always have to say "sir" to
 the police- they are not your bosses!)  "What's your name?" he asks.  I
 said "Robert."  "Got any I.D?" "No," I replied. (I just stepped out of my
 apartment for a walk...I didn't think I would need it)  As he asked if I
 had any I.D. another car pulls up and two other husky fellows come
 over...clean-cut, efficient looking fellows, and they repeat the request-
 "You got any I.D.?"  I was starting to get a little annoyed at this point
 and my brave side says "Have I done something wrong?".  Just then, one of
 the two short, husky guys reaches over to me and says "turn around and put
 your hands on the hood of the car and spread your legs," and he spins me
 around a little to help get started in that endeavor.  "Welcome to the
 United States of America," I couldn't help but say aloud.  I am really
 astonished at this point, but more importantly, I am suddenly seeing the
 entire situation in perspective.  The perspective of the beginnings of a
 police state, where the powerful police have enormous control, and command
 the fears of innocent bystanders.  After being searched, I turn around and
 continue to give the policeman biographical information, which he then
 takes inside to his car to radio in.  I turn to the smaller of the two
 men and asked (since I wanted some justification of why this was
 happening) "What would happen if I were to walk away now?"  "We would
 arrest you," said the man I was not addressing.  My mouth curved upward
 into a smile and I asked "for what?"  His reply: "We'd think of
 something." (non-objective law?  Cannot even tell if what you are doing
 is against the law)
         "Why did you ask that question?" said the smaller of the two,
 suddenly eyeing me suspiciously.  I smiled, then replied  "It's a
 philosophical question.  I wanted to have an accurate assesment of the
 current state of affairs of the United States of America."  He looked at
 me silently.  Then the undercover guy on the radio gets out of the car and
 walks up to me and looks me in the eye.  I look him straight back.  He
 says "As far as I'm concerned, you have no right being out on this street
 at this time of night.  If I ever catch you out here again, I'll arrest
 you on the spot.  Now I suggest you turn around and go straight home."  He
 looks at me a moment as I have been quietly listening. Then he asks
 "O.K.?"  "No," I said, "but I guess you have the upper hand.  I guess
 that's the way it is."  "Welcome to the United States of America," he
 replied as he pulled himself into his car and shut the door, attempting to
 mock my earlier statement, succeeding only in making it that much more
 accurate.  I walked home.

 Robert Quinn










 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 ~~                         MIKE QUINN                                   ~~
 ~~      Major:                  Computer Systems Engineering &          ~~
 ~~                              Computer Science &                      ~~
 ~~                              Mathematics                             ~~
 ~~      mailing address:        Gregson Hall, 205                       ~~
 ~~                              301 N. Garland Ave                      ~~
 ~~                              Fayetteville, AR  72701                 ~~
 ~~      voice:                  (501) 575-3043                          ~~
 ~~      e-mail:                 mquinn@comp.uark.edud                   ~~
 ~~                              mdq@engr.uark.edu                       ~~
 ~~                              myrook@aol.com                          ~~
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So true, we have become a police state where you have no constitutional
rights.  This will continue and get worse until the next revolution;
history keeps repeating itself.  If you are interested in making the next
historical cycle better, join or start a Committee of Correspondence; see
my web page at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5357/  for a bare
start at what needs to be done.  Our founding fathers predicted this 200
years ago.

--
Free men own guns - slaves don't  <http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5357/
glockist@aol.com     nhull@mindspring.com
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
WARNING: NO unsolicited commercial e-mail: $500 per message
  as per US Code, Title 47 Section 227, a copy can be found at:
     <A HREF=http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47/227.html
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
