It’s Trump vs. the Bill of Rights: Letters
Bravo to columnist Steven Greenhut (Sept. 22) for clarifying what’s at stake with Donald Trump’s flouting of our country’s founding document about how we shall govern ourselves, the Constitution.
Trump’s dismissal of judges’ opinions, attacks on the free press and a myriad of other comments and actions are wounding Americans’ support for democratic government. This includes accountability of police to local elected citizen oversight and adherence to the protections of individuals from government abuse provided by the Bill of Rights, especially freedom of expression, of assembly, of the press and the 4th Amendment right to privacy.
I am reminded of the price paid by citizens of the Soviet Union for safe streets at all hours: state surveillance of persons, including the NKVD; the ladies sitting in apartment buildings keeping an eye on residents’ comings and goings; and the East German Stasi’s omnipresence of informants and electronic spying. Safe from street crime, yes; from the omnipotent state, no.
I am pleased to say that Pasadena’s police chief and city manager recently stood with those who rejected the president’s call to abandon constitutional rights for persons in police custody. As Greenhut says, abandoning constitutional protections of individuals from government abuse is no laughing matter.
