The one tool tyrants need to attain power is a police force that mindlessly follows dictates (mandates) without regard to the Constitution. The Constitution means nothing if law enforcement ignores or violates it. No provision in the Constitution suspends any aspect of it in the event of an “emergency.” All a tyrant has to do to end a Constitutional republic is declare an emergency, suspend the Constitution, and never return to it.
For a civil society to exist, criminals must be sequestered from the rest of society. When you remove those who don’t respect others, you are left with a community of people who appreciate the rights of others. The reason we have law enforcement is to avoid tribal feuds from forming. If the citizens take it upon themselves to arrest criminals, they face retaliation from the criminal’s friends, families, and cohorts. This results in endless counter-retaliations and tribal wars similar to the Hatfields and McCoy’s.
When the police (government representatives of the people) enforce laws, the criminal’s friends, families, and cohorts can’t take revenge on the victim since the government arrested and prosecuted the criminal, not the victim(s).
Law enforcement is often called the “Thin Blue Line” between criminals and the people. They stand between those who violate the law and those who respect it.
Law enforcement is the thin blue line between criminals and respectful citizens and the thin line between civil society and tyrannical oppression.
As French philosopher Frederic Bastiat stated, “The people have three enemies: criminals, government, and foreign adversaries.” Having learned from him, our founders established the government to protect the people from criminals and foreign adversaries. Since the government is one of the potential enemies of the people, they established the Constitution to protect people from government violating their rights.
Since law enforcement is a critical aspect of both a free society and an oppressive society, the fidelity of law enforcement to the Constitution is crucial to civil society. A law enforcement official with allegiance to the Constitution is a noble person who sacrifices and faces danger to preserve civil society. A law enforcement official willing to violate Constitutional rights is an enemy of the people. Officers from each camp wear the same uniforms and can only be identified by their actions. The good ones are some of the most noble people in our society; the bad ones are the thugs of tyrants and are more dangerous to a functioning republic than foreign adversaries.
Recently, we have seen the democratization of information with the internet and social media. Some citizens have taken it upon themselves to act as independent journalists and do Constitutional audits of law enforcement. These audits have exposed many officers violating individuals rights. Along with footage of city and state public employees, there are countless videos of law enforcement employees violating the rights of the people. During the COVID-19 era, there were innumerable violations of rights by law enforcement officials enforcing unconstitutional mandates (dictates) by governors who were appropriating and exerting authority reserved for legislators.
Those law enforcement officials who enforced such mandates were not acting as noble protectors of the republic but as the thug arm of a tyrant. Tyrants are powerless without a loyal army of thugs who use force against the people to impose their dictates.
The government doesn’t hesitate to send inspectors into a business to hold people accountable to the rules they have made, but who inspects the government to see that they are faithful to and respectful of the people? As of now, that task is in the hands of independent journalists doing constitutional audits. The Sheriffs of a state should undertake this task.
Asking the state to inspect themselves is like sending the fox to watch the henhouse. Since the people directly elect Sheriffs, they should be in charge of auditing/reviewing the actions of local police, state police, city employees, state employees, and politicians. Public employees (especially law enforcement) should have to pass a comprehensive constitutional law test and have continuing education as a requirement of employment. An offense involving violating citizens’ rights should come with a reduction of pay until re-certifying their status by passing another constitutional law test. A second violation could result in a dishonorable discharge.
Today, many Sheriffs proclaim themselves 2A (Second Amendment) protectors. They run on fidelity to the Constitution and promise their constituents that they will not enforce laws violating people’s rights. The time has come for Sheriffs also to state that they are 1A (First Amendment) advocates and promise to conduct audits of public employees to ensure fidelity to the rights of those who employ them.
The First Amendment gives the people the freedom of the press, which allows people to record public employees and examine public facilities. The right to petition the government to redress grievances enables people to audit and inspect public employees to confirm they perform their paid roles and comply willingly with any public member who wishes to seek confirmation.
If public officials act in the interests of the people and have nothing to hide, they should be proud of what they are doing and be more than happy to show off their work.
Sheriffs can send deputies into the city or state offices (in plain clothes) to see how they are treated. If need be, a Sheriff can partner with the Sheriff of a county far enough away that their deputies will not be recognized and deputize each other’s deputies in their county so they can perform plain-clothes audits without being identified as Sheriff deputies.
A Sheriff takes on the responsibility of seeing to it the residents of their county are treated fairly and that their rights are not being violated by the public employees they are paying to serve them.
The people should petition their Sheriff to be a 1A advocate and promise as a condition of their election that they will perform undercover audits of public employees to ensure they are treated fairly and with respect. Any Sheriff who refuses is more concerned with government power over the people than protecting the Constitution. As stated earlier, a law enforcement official with fidelity to the Constitution is a noble and essential part of maintaining a civil society. Any who does not is serving the interests of the state over the rights of the people and is an enemy of the people.