Blogs - More from the brilliant Radley Balko

Via TheAgitator.com

Consult the Declaration of Independence. Among the greivances the signers aired against King George:

- He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

- He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

- He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

- He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

[...]

- For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

- For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States...

- For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

- For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

[...]

- He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

- He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

Let's see. By my count, you've got your 'military tribunals,' your 'indefinite detentions,' your 'black sites,' and your 'militarization of police' all neatly tucked into that passage, the whole of which sounds as if it goes quite a bit further than mere 'money and taxes,' no?