Grandparents. He fought in WWI and served in Intelligence during WWII and Korea. He did not trust too many politicians, but he was emphatic about the institutions of government and our requirement to trust them.
He turned me onto Reagan and set the foundation for what I have now in terms of ideology.
I never trusted the institutions however as he did. I saw them growing more corrupted even in the early 80's.
Suggesting that a police officer get the same constitutional due process, including a presumption of innocence, as other citizens does not mean one is living in a police state.
That is not the reason I think we live in a Police State.
Have we lost and/or given up essential freedoms?
Yes. Willingly too I might add. It's disconcerting to be stopped at roadblock "Safety checkpoints" and be told to get out of your car with your 'papers bitte' while other cops have their hands on their sidearms looking into your vehicle while you have to answer questions about where you are coming from and where you are going. This was just last week too. In a rural area.
The idea that you cannot see the inherent threat from the left(communists) and the right (Islamists) means that you put us all at risk.
I see the threat from both, but I think the Left and their agents in the Union Police Force pose greater and more imminent risk to me than Jihadists do.
I do not believe in trading essential liberty for safety and security. And since the federal government has opened up our borders wide, the truth is - we are on our own in terms of security. Cops look at us as 'domestic terrorists' via incitement reports from DHS and the feds.
Indeed; the state is a two-headed hydra which cares not whether its victims are liberal or conservative.
Both Democrats and Republicans have spent years feeding the beast, while blaming the other for its insatiable appetite.