Have you ever taken a ride in a car that you had not fully and completely inspected?? I certainly have. As a matter of fact, I have taken a ride in such a vehicle when there were people in the vehicle that I did not know. And it ain't just cars. Trains, airplanes, boats and, when I was younger and more trusting, even amusement park rides are all things I have taken a ride in/on with no inspection nor necessarily knowing who owned the vehicle or how they made their money.
The truth is, most every youngster I encounter who is not obviously under guard has made some questionable life
choices. I am not better. Take for instance, what would have been my response if someone had offered young me
a free or cheap trip to someplace I really wanted to go and all I would have to do is spend 45 minutes or so
loading/unloading all those plain packages?
The reason we have DUE PROCESS is that we do not know what we do not know. It is being reported that a
"Venezuelan drug boat with 11 people aboard" was bombed in international waters by the U.S. military. There
was reportedly complete loss of life aboard the boat.
Now, I suppose there could actually be a comprehensive file somewhere on each and every one of the 11. There
is a chance they were all actually gang members who all came from middle and upper middle-class families but
joined the gang because that is what they wanted. It could well be that everyone on the Venezuelan coast knows
better than to take free rides on boats.
Or, did we bomb a boat before we got around to asking the questions that could reasonably suffice as due process??
As an aside, I am going to point out that I have never done cocaine or several other drugs. I know for a fact that
I have been physically close to cocaine, heroin, and no few pills. The thing is they just sat there. The drugs didn't
jump me and hold me down while they migrated past the blood/brain barrier in some nefarious plan. They just
sat there. If someone wanted to experience whatever the drugs caused, they had to eat, smoke, inject or snort them.
A quick search will not reveal 11 American drug users that were snuffed out to balance the books. There is a reason
why economists speak of supply AND demand. There is also a reason we (are supposed to) have DUE PROCESS.
So we don't have to figure out the correct question to ask at every couldbe questionable situation.
In a previous essay I asked a pertinent question related to the case of Breonna Taylor who was negligently
murdered in her sleep. The question I asked was “What would a neighbor of yours have to do to justify the
authorities killing you?” Today I am going to ask you, what act of a drug cartel would justify the U/S. government
killing you? With sufficient due process that becomes an unnecessary question. As a matter of fact, proper due
process would have eliminated an awful lot of recent past cultural issues in the USA. You might not be concerned
yet because so far everyone denied due process looks different from you.
Your turn’s comin’. If you give them enough time, they will get around to denying due process to you too.
