The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, a part of our Bill of Rights, guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures…." Could there be a more violent violation of this right than to have government commandos armed with submachine guns, forcibly abduct you into the night? While your case is pending in a Federal Court, and you are neither a violent nor criminal person, but a six year old child?
That's what happened to Elian Gonzales, of course.
The Fourth Amendment was adopted to prevent exactly what the government did in this case.
Our president justifies the violence with "the law has been upheld," but it is in fact the reverse, our commitment to liberty has been undercut, trampled, sullied. What the president and the attorney general did strikes at the very heart of two centuries of constitutionally enshrined American liberty. It is egregiously abhorrent conduct by the nation's two highest law enforcement officials.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA, we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont, next time the real story on Governor Bush.