I covered the out of control practice of government theft known as “civil forfeiture” earlier this year in my post: Why You Should Never, Ever Drive Through Tenaha, Texas. At the time I explained:
In a nutshell, civil forfeiture is the practice of confiscating items from people, ranging from cash, cars, even homes based on no criminal conviction or charges, merely suspicion. This practice first became widespread for use against pirates, as a way to take possession of contraband goods despite the fact that the ships’ owners in many cases were located thousands of miles away and couldn’t easily be prosecuted. As is often the case, what starts out reasonable becomes a gigantic organized crime ring of criminality, particularly in a society where the rule of law no longer exists for the “elite,” yet anything goes when it comes to pillaging the average citizen.
I was appalled to discover recently just how big business civil forfeiture really is, with over $4 billion seized by the feds using this method in 2012 alone. While some of these seizures were no doubt legitimate, clearly many of them were not.
One recent egregious example of inappropriate government theft using “civil forfeiture” is the case of the Schott family, which has owned a grocery store outside of Detroit, Michigan for over 30 years. In January 2013, without warning or explanation, the IRS teamed up with the Department of Justice to take $35,000 out of the store’s bank account. In most cases like this one, the victims simply do not have the resources to fight the seizure through the court system, so they are effectively robbed and their lives thrown into financial turmoil without recourse. Fortunately, the Schott’s have found assistance through the Institute for Justice, which has put together the following video.
Once again, we see total proof of the selective application of the rule of law in the Banana Republic USA. Not a single banker goes to jail for anything, including billions in money-laundering and destroying the world economy, yet poor people driving peacefully across Texas and family grocery stores depositing small amounts of cash into its bank experience merciless financial attacks. It’s immoral, despicable and we need to fight back.
In Liberty,
Mike
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How freaking despicable!
They could have ironed this out with 5 minutes of conversation but instead the soulless bastards who do these things just take the market’s money.
I guess admitting that reason and honor should count for anything at all would have detracted too much from the feds’ feelings of power.
If it can be shown that a blatant miscarriage of justice took place in a minute and a half (including music and statements by others) then the police/feds involved have failed so badly at their job that they should be FIRED on the spot. Not only should the money be returned, with interest and court costs paid to the market but all those who took part in this semi-legal theft should be fired on the spot. They have shown they do not have the intelligence or temperment to be entrusted with any sort of power.
So not only is this guy having to carry cash to the bank, with a limit of $10K on his insurance against losses… he has to carry cash in fucking DETROIT (my hometown). Poor guy.
Why do you think the IRS was created right after the federal reserve? For exactly this reason.
We need a new revolution. Now. As citizens, we must file lawsuits in defense of the Constitution. Wait any longer and we’ll all be into FEMA camps. Mr. Bundy and friends have shown the way.