If you have ever traveled to the third world you may have some familiarity with checkpoints on the highway. In Central America, for example, it is not uncommon to have your vehicle stopped, surrounded by troops with machine guns and have your possessions searched by military personnel.

I have always found these checkpoints intimidating. There is the clear feeling that you are guilty until proven innocent. I remember sitting in one of these checkpoints and feeling thankful that I live in a free country where we are not subjected to this humiliating treatment.

Unfortunately America is slowly adopting the oppressive policies of a third-world police state.  Over the past month there has been increasing use of domestic roadside checkpoints here in the United States.  Our leaders continue to reject the principles of freedom that made this country a decent and respectable place to live and instead drive us further toward despotism.

The TSA has already expanded its role from the airports to the rail and bus system and now is quietly moving onto the nations highways as well. So-called “VIPR” teams are now operating in Tennessee. The TSA is running up to seven simultaneous checkpoints in Tennessee “looking for terrorists” on the highways.  Clearly this program is being used as a test with the goal of rolling this program out nationwide in the months and years to come.

Checkpoints are also hitting closer to home as motorists in Michigan are being targeted by highway checkpoints as well. Drivers near Flint Michigan are now being stopped at narcotics checkpoints and sniffed over by drug dogs.

This new trend in roadside checkpoints is very disturbing and raises many questions. Is this a free country? Does the government exist to protect our rights? Will the leaders of Wisconsin’s government protect its citizens from such authoritarian policies? Will Wisconsin’s citizens demand that they do so?

Or will we here in America, like so many other nations, be continually searched and interrogated as we attempt to travel in this once free land.  Lets work together to make sure that Wisconsin is a national leader on this issue and a powerful advocate for civil rights.

We have recently witnessed the Obama administration order the assassination of an American citizen living abroad. He was targeted and blown up by a predator drone. No trial, no judge or jury. No evidence. Just the dictate of one person.

The United States was formed to bring an end to the reign of power of one person over all. People rejected the rule of the king for the rule of law.

Government is supposed to protect the rights of its citizens. Wisconsin, itself a constitutional republic, must protect its citizens from the dangerous precedent set by allowing an all-powerful executive to assume the power to kill citizens without trial.

Although overshadowed by more immediate concerns, there is likely no more pressing issue before the state of Wisconsin now than this issue.  Our leaders should powerfully condemn this action. They should declare that Wisconsin will not permit the assassination of its citizens. This declaration should be followed up with specific legislation that makes this explicitly clear.  Wisconsin citizens are not to be deprived of life, liberty or property except by due process of law.

The goal of such action is certainly not for the protection of evil people. The Wisconsin Constitution has provisions for dealing with treason. People who do harm to us, citizens or not, need to be prosecuted. However, we must work to protect the rule of law in ordered to protect the rights of Wisconsin citizens and the integrity of our free society.

We must ensure that this radical expansion of executive power is not allowed to stand, so that it may never be used to target the people of Wisconsin.

Governments should not threaten people. Their sole legitimate purpose is to benefit the society they serve. A government that threatens is a truly dangerous institution indeed.

The President recently threatened older Americans by stating that their social security funds, which they have been saving for their entire working lives, may be taken from them to pay for continued reckless spending.  However, as August U.S. Treasury data clearly shows, there is more than enough money to pay for social security in the short term. The question is only priorities.

This threat illustrates the priorities of the federal government. These are priorities that go beyond any one administration or political party. The primary goal is to serve well-connected corporations and insiders. They will gladly steal the life savings of millions of people in order to keep funneling trillions to corrupt banks and military operations.

It is time for people to look to their state and local governments to protect them from an increasingly threatening central state. The founders of the United States understood that centralized power is corrupting and dangerous to human liberty. This is why they promoted the separation of power. It is time to return the balance of power to the local level. We must begin to focus on positive policies that benefit the people of Wisconsin and ensure that freedom, peace and prosperity thrive in our beautiful state.

The news out of Egypt tells of citizens defying military curfews and rallying for freedom from an authoritarian dictatorship. The government has shut down the people’s internet and is shooting people in the streets for peacefully protesting. One would think that in the “land of the free” there would be an outpouring of support for a people longing for liberty.

However, the press out of the United States is primarily provided by Joe Biden who recently stated that Mubarak is not a dictator and did not need to step down. Sure Mr. Biden, he is just a “president” that has served for 30 years by the force of the military. Instead of standing on the side of freedom the federal government continues to send over $1.3 billion of direct military aid a year to prop up the Egyptian dictatorship. Our money is used to prevent the freedom of others.

The U.S. Congress often issues statements condemning various global actions. It is time for Wisconsin’s congress to make a statement regarding the actions of Washington:

THE PEOPLE OF WISCONSIN DO NOT SUPPORT DICTATORSHIPS. WE CALL ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO END ALL SUPPORT OF AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS IMMEDIATELY.