In Michigan, police were caught on tape stealing private property:

What do you want to take in the basement?  Do you want to take the drums and all that (expletive), or no?

The police took three pages worth of property that included a 52” flat-screen TV, a DVD player, two computers, a camera and several DVDs.

Why does this kind of abuse happen?  The answer is civil forfeiture.

In the United States, if the government suspects that you committed a crime, officials can arrest you and put you on trial.  The government must then prove you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

But if the government suspects that your property was involved in a crime, under civil forfeiture laws officials can take and sell your property.  In most instances, they get to pocket the proceeds.  Importantly, they don’t have to prove you did anything wrong.  This sounds bizarre, but with civil forfeiture, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent.

As civil forfeiture expert Scott Bullock explains in the above video:

You cannot give the very people who are out there enforcing the laws a direct incentive to try to take homes, cars, currency, and other property from citizens.  Under the law in over 40 states, police and prosecutors are allowed to keep all or most of the property that they seize.  So this gives them a very direct incentive to go out and take as much property from citizens as possible.

This explains why one of the police officers caught on tape says, “If Luke comes down here, he’s gonna wanna take everything . . . he’s gonna give us a chance to frickin’ take all this stuff.”

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You’ve probably heard about eminent domain abuse.  That’s where the government takes your land and hands it over to another private party….one that is more politically connected.

But you may not have heard about civil forfeiture.  And yet, today, it could very well be the most egregious abuse of private property rights in America.

We all know that one of the many beautiful things about the United States is that citizens are innocent until proven guilty.  But civil forfeiture turns that fundamental principle on its head.

This sounds bizarre, but with civil forfeiture, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent.

Consider the case of Margaret Davis.

As a 77-year-old woman living alone with multiple medical problems, Margaret left her Pennsylvania home unlocked so her neighbors could regularly check on her.  One day while the police were chasing alleged drug dealers through her neighborhood, they all ran through Margaret’s house.  The dealers dropped some of their stash on Margaret’s floor, in plain sight.

Instead of apologizing to Margaret for the traumatic experience, the government seized her house.

Under civil forfeiture laws, Margaret’s property—her house—was guilty until she could prove it innocent to get it back.  And that’s not all.  As it turns out, most state and federal laws allow the government to keep the property they take through civil forfeiture.  So authorities have a big incentive to pursue property over justice.

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It’s time for Tea Party activists in Southern California to put up, or shut-up.

Despite California’s “flakey” and leftist reputation, there are certain pockets outside of Los Angeles and San Francisco that very much resemble suburban and rural areas in the mid-west (except with much better weather and baseball).  I happen to live in just such an area.

California’s 42nd Congressional District. It is a bizarrely shaped district that covers much of LA’s suburban mecca, Orange County (the place Ronald Reagan once described as “where good Republicans go to die”) and rural portions of Los Angeles and San Bernardino county.  The district is shaped the way it is so a Republican incumbent is sure to win year after year after year… and he has.

For the past ten years the district has been “represented” by Republican Gary Miller.  I put those quotes around his name because looking at his record I can’t, for the life of me, see how he has represented me or my family or my neighbors at all.  In fact, in light of recent revelations, it seems that Republican Gary Miller’s most important constituency is Republican Gary Miller’s bank account.

I will get into all of the reasons why Republican Gary Miller should be turned out of office in a bit.  First, I want to address the Tea Party concept and why primary season is so important this year.

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After reading Warner Todd Huston’s article, Tea Parties: The Biggest Mistake We Could Make in 2010, I was incredulous.  It seems misguided to suggest top down management in a time when big companies, big organizations, and big government have received bailouts after spending like drunken thieves or failing in the marketplace. Under what premise can anyone make the case that the solution to our nation’s dilemma is a big organization, especially a Big Tea Party? In all cases big leadership has resulted in big corruption, which is at the root of almost every issue before us.

Since the onset of ‘change we can all believe in’, politicians at all levels seem to constantly point to small businesses as our hope for economic recovery. In an era of “too big to fail,” it would seem obvious that people, regardless of party affiliation, could agree that bigger is not better. I haven’t heard anyone speak of the positive impact that CEO-led mega-banks, automakers, or the Fannies and Freddies will have on economic recovery.

The idea that the grassroots tea party movement should become a third political party is counter productive and borders on the ludicrous. Tea Parties are about government accountability, not joining partisan politics in the corruption and incompetence that threatens American liberty. Our City Councils, State Legislatures, and Congress work for us, and it is high time that we reminded them of this and brought them into the fold.

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As many readers know by now, on Dec 5^th, Senator Max Baucus( D-MT) , the man entrusted with writing the govt. takeover bill of the American healthcare system, was forced to disclose the embarrassing fact that he had nominated his live-in girlfriend as the next U.S. Attorney for his home state of Montana. Senator Baucus did not disclose this fact out of some good-natured rationale; rather a political watchdog group had discovered the link, and the information was coming public, so he tried to get ahead of the story.

Understandably, the Republican Party among others are calling for an investigation into what seems to be clear conflict of interest in his dealings and a serious lapse of judgment. Considering his current girlfriend Melodee Hanes started working in Senator Baucus’ office as early as 2002, and the divorce to his current wife was not announced until early 2009, it would seem to be more than just a possible legal and political transgression he was making with Ms. Hanes. (more…)

Scott Rasmussen’s latest poll findings on the voters’ top issues is pretty interesting:

For nearly two years, economic issues have held the top spot in terms of importance among voters.

But the latest national telephone survey shows that 83% now view government ethics and corruption as very important, placing it just ahead of the economy on a list of 10 key electoral issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports.

The great blog, Powerline speculates:

Still, it’s a striking change. What caused it? The only thing that has happened in the last couple of weeks that can account for the shift, I think, is James O’Keefe’s and Hannah Giles’ exposure of the incredible depth of corruption to which ACORN, closely identified with government at all levels and the Democratic Party, has fallen. That may also explain why 43% of voters say President Obama has done a “poor” job of “addressing government ethics and reducing corruption.”

Those waiting for the “even one individual can make a difference” number to come up, please come to the window to collect your winnings.