• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
American Dreaming

American Dreaming

Ideals and Realities of the American Dream

  • Home
  • Human Spirit
  • Perspective
  • Economics
  • Science & Tech
  • Fulfilling the Dream

Civil Asset Forfeiture

2019-11-20 by Peter Kosen

This is the story of a good government gone bad.  

I’ll have to admit that, when I first heard about the concept of civil asset forfeiture, I cheered. It was a story about some bad guys getting their stolen stuff taken away by the authorities because they had stolen or embezzled the money that they had used to buy it. It sounded a lot like justice to me. And, in that case, it might have been. People who have their stuff (money or whatever) stolen should get it back.

But that was a long time ago. I don’t even remember the details of the story or where I read about it. And I was young and naive.

THIS IS A STUB ARTICLE WHICH WILL EXPAND ON THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:

Abuse of government power in several ways: 

The victims often (usually? almost always?) don’t get the benefit.

The police departments or municipalities that do the seizing are the beneficiaries. Look up the percent of the budget of some departments that comes from such seizures. The government should not have cash incentives for confiscating people’s assets. Due process should be the priority.

Clearly unconstitutional abuse of illegal “search and seizure.”

The confiscated assets themselves are somehow considered to be the subject of the accusation of illegality independent of their owner. Thus the owner has to sue to get his assets back. And (I think) does not even get reimbursed for the cost of his law suit if he wins.

Need to:

Look up court cases where it has been somehow been declared constitutional.

Look up cases of abuse. Get information from organizations who are attempting to fight abuse.

We might be able to get some free contributors to this site from this subject.

We could run a series of articles consisting of different abuse cases.

This might be a subject that would do well as a set of memes to publish on FaceBook that would link back to this article and site to expand publication of the site.

ALSO: This is related to (but not legally the same as) recent abuses of the “takings” clause in the Constitution that enables imminent domain. That needs to be a separate set of articles.  Note:  I’ve seen arguments that these abuses are “okay” because the “good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.” The support of this position contains the fact that communities enact limitations on the use of property all the time, like zoning requirements and building codes. We need to make the point that this is not the same as theft of someone’s property because zoning requirements are part of an existing environment and even usually have “grandfather” clauses.

Posted Under: Perspective

Primary Sidebar

Related Articles

Collaborators in this Site

The thoughts, principles, histories, and opinions … [Read More...] about Collaborators in this Site

Proper Nationalism

If words could sue for slander, this word, … [Read More...] about Proper Nationalism

Government Shakedowns

This page will probably be more of a very brief … [Read More...] about Government Shakedowns

Value and Price

Sometimes it seems as though the concept of “value” is … [Read More...] about Value and Price

Musings of the Site Founder

I remember when my awareness of and interest in the national … [Read More...] about Musings of the Site Founder

Why should we allow exploration of space instead of fixing poverty on Earth?

Why do we not push for getting everyone everywhere all on … [Read More...] about Why should we allow exploration of space instead of fixing poverty on Earth?

We Hold These Truths

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are … [Read More...] about We Hold These Truths

The Root of All Evil

As we explore the Human Spirit, one of the questions … [Read More...] about The Root of All Evil

There is no “Poverty Line”

The term is absurd. Okay, at this point, I’d like to … [Read More...] about There is no “Poverty Line”

Privilege will always exist & it is immoral to try to eliminate it.

How’s that for a provocative, click bait title? I’m looking … [Read More...] about Privilege will always exist & it is immoral to try to eliminate it.

Unlimited Potential

In April of the year 1610, over 400 years ago, Johannes … [Read More...] about Unlimited Potential

Without Regard to Race, Religion, Sex, etc.

Everyone has seen the phrase above, or some variation of … [Read More...] about Without Regard to Race, Religion, Sex, etc.

The Space Shuttle was a Failure

The loss of both the Challenger and the Columbia … [Read More...] about The Space Shuttle was a Failure

Civil Asset Forfeiture

This is the story of a good government gone bad. … [Read More...] about Civil Asset Forfeiture

What about the Gold Standard?

Use of the gold standard is a controversial … [Read More...] about What about the Gold Standard?

The Long View

I don't want to show that much profit in this quarter.  … [Read More...] about The Long View

Christopher Columbus discovered America

Yes, Christopher Columbus discovered America. And yes, I … [Read More...] about Christopher Columbus discovered America

The Percent Wealth Tax Heist

Let’s just start right in on the obvious: First of all, … [Read More...] about The Percent Wealth Tax Heist

Who’s going to invade the United States?

The purpose of this article is to put into … [Read More...] about Who’s going to invade the United States?

A Proper Conservative

Political dialog these days seems sometimes to … [Read More...] about A Proper Conservative

Footer

PROMOTING THE REALIZATION OF THE FULL POTENTIAL OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT

  • We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness;
  • Without Regard to Race, Color, Religion, Sex, National Origin or other Personal Characteristics;
  • Dismissing “Liberal/Conservative” & “Right/Left” and other shallow tribalistic labels in favor of meaningful dialog on each issue that affects our society;
  • And promoting an environment of freedom and opportunity that maximizes the full expression of each individual Human Spirit.

Recent

  • The Sunrise Story
  • Personal Adventures
  • We Should be Going Nuclear
  • I’m not going to Mars. (But maybe you can)
  • Why should we allow exploration of space instead of fixing poverty on Earth?

Search

Copyright © 2021 · American Dreaming