Washington, DC—Before the early-1970s most Americans did not have a photo ID. Pictures were not on driver’s licenses. You could board airplanes without ID and you along with your luggage were never searched. You could travel the roads unmolested without those sobriety checkpoints. Cops were never searching bags in city subways.
Taxes and bogus fines did not rise to the level of slavery like they do today. There were no photo radar and red light cameras generating millions for private contractors that kick back cash to politicians campaigns.
Entrances into government buildings did not have security checkpoints. There were no surveillance cameras and cellphones that kept a total history of every call you ever sent or received. There were no black boxes in your car to tell government agents about your driving habits.
If police stopped anyone it was painfully slow for cops to even get driving or criminal histories. Now they have instant digital access. Stores did not have shopper’s cards recording every cash purchase you make. Credit cards were not often used and there was no such thing as a debit card.
The military was precluded since the Civil War from engaging in law enforcement practices against Americans on our own soil. You could not be detained by government without probable cause that you committed a crime and even then you had a right to bail, lawyers and Due Process of law.
There were many fewer search and seizure exceptions allowed by court decisions. The failed Drug War was little more than a lame excuse to steal liberty and privacy.
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