Amber's dirty secret

Whenever a politician tells you they need to pass a bill "for the children", you'd better brace yourself — chances are, your freedoms are about to be abducted.

There are many measures that have been passed throughout the years in the name of "the children". Nearly all of them thrust government deeper into your life. And more government means less individual liberty.

Take, for instance, the nation-wide Amber Alert system.

The Amber Alert originated as a program in Texas in 1996 after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted and murdered. It was apparently decided that had the public been recruited to help look for her abductor, she might have been saved.

Following that incident, police began working with TV and radio stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, to get word out fast when a child was abducted. The program later spread to the entire state, then to California, and finally Congress introduced a measure that would take the program nation-wide.

When the Amber Alert bill (S.151) was first introduced on Capitol Hill, it was only 14 sections long. By the final draft, several sections had been added to the bill making it over six times its original size!

One of the additions was a section to the bill called the "Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy (RAVE) Act", or in official terms, "The Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003". The legislation's supposed intent is to target dance parties or "Raves" in which the utilization of drugs such as ecstasy are prevalent.

But the RAVE Act makes it easier for the federal government to prosecute innocent business owners for the drug crimes of their customers — even if the business owner had taken measures to discourage drug-use in their establishments.

It places into jeopardy bar and restaurant owners, as well the owners of hotels or nightclubs. Even concert promoters or the owners of stadiums, where events are booked, could be prosecuted for the drug crimes of third party individuals.

The act applies to all public gatherings, regardless of genre. But it also could be used against landlords and real estate managers, who have clientele who possess illegal substances.

And even though it targets property owners who "knowingly" permit illegal drug use on their premises, how can a business owner prove they had no knowledge of an offense?

In short, it unfairly shifts the responsibility of drug-enforcement and community policing to the private property owner, while punishing the same for the crimes of the occupants of their property. And it gives greater discretion to prosecutors, who could use it to target people or events which do not meet with their approval.

It isn't difficult to imagine how this little section of the Amber Alert bill could be misused on a politically incorrect event like, for instance, a gun show. Fines could be levied against the organizers of the event, as well as the owners of the building in which the show took place, based upon an accusation that illegal drug use was present among the patronage.

Prior to its installment into the Amber Alert bill, the RAVE Act had proven itself to be rather controversial. It had failed to pass a single committee in either the House or the Senate. Then, Senator Joseph "Stalin" Biden slipped it into the S.151 as a last-minute attachment. The entire bill was then passed by both houses, and signed into law by President Bush.

Already, the RAVE Act has been used for political purposes — to squelch freedom of speech and interfere with private meetings. On May 30, 2003 a meeting was planned at the Eagle Lodge in Billings, Montana. The event was a fundraiser for a campaign to change the state's medical marijuana law. The managers of the lodge decided to cancel the event when a Drug Enforcement Administration agent told them they could be fined $250,000 if anyone smoked marijuana during the event.

The War On Drugs has accomplished very little in the way of eliminating illegal drug use. In fact, illegal drug use continues to soar, while small time offenders are punished harshly. And innocent property owners must now worry about being fined or imprisoned under a bill that was supposedly intended to protect the children from abduction.

The next time you witness an Amber Alert on TV, a highway sign, or on the radio, remember that our children must be protected from more than just child abductors. Amber's dirty secret is another demonstration that we must always remain on watch to guard against those who would take away our rights and that of future generations.

In other words, we must defend liberty — for the children.