Once again we see the human rights of the poor taken away just because they are poor and dependent on the state. A report taken from the NYTimes (behind the subscriber firewall) gives the facts of the case which originates in San Diego, California. In that fair city poor people who want public benefits are left without personal privacy.
Investigators from the district attorney's office there make unannounced visits to the homes of people applying for welfare, poking around in garbage cans, medicine chests and laundry baskets.
Of course the recipients of government largesse are not required to let the investigators into their homes and into their lives, but refusal ends their benefits. How many of us live without some measure of government benefit such as tax relief or other provision. Just how many of us are going to open the sacred halls of our homes to such an invasion at any price? Why are the poor left in this lurch?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated
yet the searches continue to this day.
"They're looking for boxer shorts in a drawer," said Jordan C. Budd, a law professor who represented the plaintiffs when he was legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego. "They're looking for medicine in a man's name.
Where does freedom end in this country? How can this be?
The county claims the searches and supervision are reasonable steps taken to reduce fraud. Taking the case to court bought no relief for the victims. A three judge panel ruled against the appeal saying
people are free to opt out - by giving up their welfare benefits.
That seems to be a pretty lousy excuse for a ruling. At least one judge on the panel seemed to agree with my assessment calling that
a false choice for an applicant desperate to feed her children.
I wonder just how many government employees would be willing to give up their privacy in order to keep their jobs. Or what about those judges who ruled against the case? Maybe they'd like to have their trash and their home searched in order to keep their fancy homes and fine jobs.
Inequality and discrimination abound in this country. Discrimination in schools is returning as a a result of the recent SCOTUS.pdf decision in a Seattle case. Now we hear more discrimination is being enforced against people whose only crime is to be poor. Not that other crimes are not uncovered in the searches.
If they come across evidence of other crimes, like drug use or child abuse, they pass it along to the police and prosecutors.
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Our country was founded on principles of liberty and justice for ALL, not just the white ruling class. No discrimination of any sort was written into those founding principles.
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their comrades. We, the privileged class for the most part, need to take to the streets and to the airwaves and to the telephones to protest this egregious treatment of those who have less resources than we. We can each one deliver at least some thoughts about this situation and push our Congress critters toward remedies. We cannot let this situation linger. Human rights are basic to all of humankind. If we allow situations like this one to persist we stand to lose our humanity once and for all.
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