A final lesson, courtesy of Uncle Sam

The militarization of law enforcement in America continues to work toward its inevitable conclusion:

STOCKTON, CA - Kenneth Wright does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
"I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers," Wright said.
Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as a S.W.A.T team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.
"He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there," Wright said.

After thirty years of the War on The Bill of Rights drugs, it's safe to assume Wright was suspected of being a narcotics kingpin, right?

Nope. The authorities weren't even looking for him...

As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for was not there - Wright's estranged wife.
"They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids," Wright said.
Wright said he later went to the mayor and Stockton Police Department, but the City of Stockton had nothing to do with Wright's search warrant.
The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife's defaulted student loans.
"They busted down my door for this," Wright said. "It wasn't even me."

So it's come to this: a cabinet department frequently targeted for abolition since it does little to actually educate children has a law enforcement branch that can order SWAT teams to break down doors in no-knock raids of those students who default on their loans. Given today's economy, I wonder how many MORE people will fit THAT description...

The US was founded on the idea that government is a necessary evil, and that the force it represents has to be constrained, only used in the most absolute of circumstances.

Still think that country exists? I don't.  SWAT teams have suffered such mission creep that domestic law enforcement closely resembles the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The state claims the right to break and enter for any reason it deems fit.

That's not the mark of a free country.  Note to the authorities: treating every citizen as a potential threat is a great way to convince them that's what you are.