The article states, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former Alabama senator, announced that the Justice Department will expand civil forfeiture programs, which allow law enforcement to seize people’s cash, homes, and other possessions in the name of punishment.
Most disturbing regarding this policy is the fact:
- In practice, it just doesn’t work.
- In many cases, the person hasn’t even been charged with a crime, let alone prosecuted or convicted.
- Even if the person isn’t charged with a crime at all, the government keeps those assets.
- Ironically, many politicians, both on the left and right feel that civil forfeiture is not a good way to prevent crime and that it also infringes on people’s civil rights.
Not surprisingly, the government not only takes assets without charging people, they also don’t have to make any effort to return the assets. In addition, it is not easy to get that money or possessions back. It is entirely It’s up to the individual, or family, to seek the property’s return which costs money in legal fees — sometimes more than what the assets are worth.
According to a March report by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, from 2007 to 2016, the Drug Enforcement Administration obtained $3.2 billion in cash seizures without filing any charges against the people from whom they took the money. And it’s not easy to get that money back.
The problem of asset seizure has become so endemic in the US, police departments actually retain wish lists which contain an internal inventory of items most wanted by individual departments.
Ironic considering much of US foreign policy IS dictated by business interests and has been historically illustrated by countless military excursions in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa to name a few. It really is no surprise, since greed has no boundaries and a vast sleeping population which can be easily divided and distracted would make a accessible and effortless target for further exploitation.
The bewildered herd, our growing collective precariat will continue to be fleeced by the Wall Street oligarchs, the new robber barons who operate with unchecked greed and avarice.
There are many extensions of this practice but it essentially boils down to exploitation of the masses who are already effectively marginalized along ethnic, racial and economic lines. This makes it much easier to pass more draconian laws since control in a homogeneous environment is more difficult. Divide and conquer is alive and well in the land of the un-free.
Yes, the proverbial rabbit hole goes very deep when you actually study US historical law and it's relation to business. Is it any wonder that the primary drivers of both foreign and domestic policy are driven by economic incentives for profit.
Yes indeed it has and will continue...............
In 1904 Upton Sinclair wrote in The Jungle:
“The original edition of the novel concluded with its proletarian protagonist attending a mass rally addressed by the American Socialist Party’s mesmerizing presidential candidate – Sinclair’s fictional representation of Eugene Debs. The candidate, Sinclair wrote:
“was a man of electric presence, tall and gaunt, with a face worn think by struggle and suffering. The fury of outraged manhood gleamed in him – and the tears of suffering. When he spoke he paced the stage restlessly; he was lithe and eager, like a panther. He leaned over, reaching out for his audience; he pointed into their souls with an insistent finger. His voice was husky from much speaking, but the hall was still as death, and everyone heard him. He spoke the language of workingmen – he pointed them the way. He showed the two political parties as ‘two wings of the same bird of prey.” The people were allowed to choose between their candidates, and both of them were controlled, and all their nominations were dictated by, the same [money] power.”