There's a phrase, Im sure you've heard it. "The tip of the iceberg". It means that through wisdom and experience, you can see that which cannot be seen by others.

First, let's acknowledge something. What I am about to tell you, probably won't matter to you. Why? Because you, the reader of this, have already been broken. Like a horse, you've been trained to accept your saddle.

But worse, rather than live with the inevitable anger and humiliation of your willing submission, you pretend that submission isn't so. You pretend there is no submission. You ignore your saddle. In short, you pursue bliss through willful ignorance.

Which is hard, when another horse - an unbroken horse - begins to buck his saddle. You ignore it, you placate, you rationalize, you even blame the other horse. Anything to avoid facing your own lost freedom. Facing your own wounded pride.

There is a difference between the prisoner and the slave. The slave sells his soul and serves the master, and so aids the master against other slaves. The prisoner remains true, and refuses servitude.

I was driving through downtown Santa Cruz last Friday, taking my girlfriend to work. It was just before 3p. Moderate traffic, clear weather, no hurry. While I won't deny that I'm a regular "spirited driver" when circumstance allows, traffic made no such allowance. I was just rolling along like everyone else.

I was "pulled over" as we call it in the good ol PS of A (Police State of America) at the intersection of Cathcart and Front, by the Longs Drugs.

Let's not gloss this over. Consider what we're talking about here. Lights and sires, we all know the drill right? What does it really mean?

It means "Stop or we will hurt you." It's a threat, make no mistake. You are being threatened with violence at that moment. They don't have to draw guns - you already know they have them. They don't have to ram your car - you already know they're willing to. They don't have to block you, smash your window, and physically drag you from your own car no matter how trivial the ultimate reason for intercepting you like this. You know they will.

Imagine if I did the same to you on the road. I find you in public place, minding your own business, and I threaten you with great violence if you don't stop your travel immediately and make yourself available to me for reasons unknown. How would you react?

Hopefully with indignation and outrage, held in check only by the civilized patience of waiting to find out what-the-fuck I think is so damned important. And it had better be good, or else there should be hell to pay for such rudeness.

So we surrender our freedom, completely and without question. We trade our liberty for security. Thomas Jefferson's opinion on this deal is well-quoted.

I pull into a public parking lot just ahead of me, rather than park on crowded streets. I even park in a slot, all nice and neat. And safe. And legal.

My victimless "crime" as it turned out, the act which has supposedly incurred for me a debt to "society", was nothing more than not having a prisoner ID tag (you politely call them "license plates") on the front of my car. There's one on back - it came that way. No front one was ever installed. Dont know why, and don't care.

But at this point we have already crossed a line.

Let me make something clear, if it is not already. I am minding my own business. I am over 18, a fully self-sufficient adult. I am not the property of the state, nor is my car for that matter. Hell, the bank doesn't even own it anymore - mine, all mine.

You think license plates are okay? Fine, put one on oyur car. It's your property, do as you wish. Hell, paint it fucking pink and weld on a beer can as a hood ornament if you like. It's your car.

My car, however, is not your car. It's mine. See, we call this "freedom". You know, live and let live? Try it sometime.

Tell you what, let's pass a similar law that says everyone is now required to have all their t-shirts, sweaters, and jackets embroided with their SSN. Those who choose to go topless, may do so for the price of an equivelant tattoo on their chest. You must pay the govt for it, BTW. And they set the price.

The size, color, and font must be that of the state's choosing. If you want a custom SSN, that's fine - you have to request one from them, and maybe they'll approve it. Font, color, and size are out of your control - they make sure it's nice and big and readable from a distance.

Why?

Why to "assist law enforcement", of course. Can't have people walking around anonymously. What if you robbed a bank? Stole a purse? Or blew up a building? How are police supposed to catch bad guys if they can run around being anonymous?

But I digress.

So here we are. I've been intercepted with the silent, implicit, but very real threat of force, and all over a bullshit Big Brother no-one-is-innocent failure to wear 2 (because 1 somehow isnt enough) ugly govt identification card on my otherwise nice pretty car.

Yeah, this really does a lot for "public safety". Oooh, he's really fighting crime now. The streets are so much safer. Not.

Other than greeting the nice civil servant with my customary "What the fuck do you want now?!" to let him know how displeased I already am with his implicit and highly impolite threat of assault if I don't bow down to his completely unjustified threats of violence in the name of serving and protecting public safety (I guess Im not part of that public when it comes to the right to travel freely), the conversation is fairly short.

You know this drill. He wants my permission-to-travel papers, and my govt identification card. Again, let's stop and consider what's happening.

Now my life isn't just interrupted under threat of violence. Now he's looking for an excuse to hurt or rob me. What do you think the records check is all about? Just a fishing expedition, played by a bunch of arbitrary rules to give it the veneer of a greater purpose. But he doesn't care. That's not why he's here.

He's 2 things - a hunter, and a pirate.

A hunter, because he likes to hunt humans. We're "the most dangerous game", and forbidden for hunting. But cops get an exception. That's why they love their jobs. They get to chase, kidnap, assault, and drag people back to the hunting lodge, generally without fear of repercussion. Kind of like a sport hunter going after a deer with a hunting rifle. All the thrill of the hunt, without any of that messy risk. (When was the last time a deer succeeded in defending itself?)

And they just love throwing their force around in public. Look at us. We are men! We are gods! We do fearlessly what you wouldn't dare - attack other humans. See our power. Submit. Fear. Surrender. We get such a hard on from showing you who's boss.

And he's fishing. Fishing for loot. If he can arrest me, then they can search the car. "To insure the safety of the contents", of course. For excuses. Drugs, they hope (another TOTALLY bullshit victimless crime). Cuz that means they can steal my car, and sell it at auction.

Police depts all over the nation, for 2 decades, have been profiting from fencing stolen loot. Out in the open! They call it "asset forfeiture", and they sell your car at a govt-run auction. And they pocket the cash.

It doesn't go directly into the pocket of the pirate who nabbed the loot, but don't think for a second that he won't be rewarded in other ways for bringing in the big bucks to his employer. They thrive on this shit. Christmas bonuses, better equipment, choice assignments, promotions.. the soldiers get their share, trust me.

Anyway, we know this drill, right? Hurry up and wait for 10-20 minutes while Big Brother gives you a digital anal probe.

Here comes the best part.

He's already halfway back to his car. I'm legally parked. He's already admitted that all this shit is simply over the license plate, nothing more. It's not like I was swerving around trying to flatten pedestrians.

So I get out of my car. I don't go anywhere, I just get out. Might as well, as I'm already close enough to where I was going.

"Get back in your car sir."

I saw this coming, of course. See, interact with cops enough and you'll learn something about them. They're stark raving control freaks. And it's encouraged in their training. They're taught a myriad tricks and techniques for controlling people. Physical and psychological. Individuals and groups. And they're encouraged to use it all. Control everything. Control everyone. Establish territorial dominance.

I'm sure it works very well, too. Just like a soldier who is trained to kill quickly and mercilessly makes the battle run more smoothly.

Problem is when those soldiers come home, they're less like people now and more like killing machines. They don't play well with others anymore. And this is supposed to be a free country. A civil society. We citizens are supposed to be treated with respect, and our rights not trampled. Cops are supposed to be protecting *US*, the public. That's what all these laws, and all their guns and body armor and equipment, are for.

Yet what we need now is protection FROM cops. Because the cops are absolutely maniacal control freaks - something very incompatible with public service in a civil society. On the battlefield, at least the soldier is facing an armed opponent trying equally to kill him first. At the corner of Cathcart and Front St, police have no business automatically treating us like enemy combatants.

"Im giving you a lawful order to get back in your car sir!"

He's now crossed yet another line with me. I dont give a shit about appending "sir" or "madame" to it. His actions both contradict and dispell any illusion of respecting me as a free citizen whom he has supposedly sworn to protect and serve.

My response, while not very civil, was at least honest.

"Fuck you! Who do you think you are? This is a parking lot, and I'm not trying to leave so just walk your little Nazi ass over to your fucking car which WE paid for and get on your little radio and do your little records check and while we all stand around whistling for 20 fucking minutes why don't you give some thought to getting an honest job instead of harrassing and extorting innocent people for a living!"

I'll give him credit for keeping his cool. Then again, if I were a professional warrior and had all his weapons and 3 friends behind me and an entire heavily-armed and well-funded gang just a radio call away, and he was unarmed and alone and experience had taught me I could get away with a whole lot without anyone in power ever disapproving while passers-by simply stare in morbid curiousity, I think I'd be pretty calm too.

That's when I was arrested.

Arrested, hand-cuffed, and taken hostage. Held in the back of his cop car for probably a half hour. Yep.

Why?

"Obstructing justice by delaying an officer", he said. And how did I delay him? I wasn't blocking his path, I'd already handed over my license, registration, and proof of insurance. It was a parking lot even - not like some highway where it's even illegal to walk. And what was I there for in the first place? Not even anything violent. Not even anything big. NOT EVEN ANYTHING THAT QUALIFIED AS A FUCKING MISDEMEANOR. Just a fix-it ticket for only having a rear license plate!

Nope, I "delayed" him by "forcing" - that's what he said - him to come over and arrest me for "failure to obey a lawful order".

I repeat:
ordinary parking lot
I was already legally parked
I wasn't blocking his path
he already had the usual documents
he was already halfway back to his car
we were already beginning the customary 20 minutes of hurry-up-and-wait
I wasn't trying to leave, nor even moving quickly. Hell, I even paused to lock my car.
I had been stopped for the most utterly trivial of "crimes" imaginable, and people every day are allowed to stand around as I had begun to do while in the "state of detention" as lawyers call it.

So what was the problem?

The problem was that, in his mind, he had to "control the scene". i.e. establish that he was the dominant wolf, and insure that I submitted 110% to his superior power.

One of the techniques they are taught in the academy, a psychological trick, to establish weakness and helplessness in the mind of their prey is to always act, and never react.

If you even ask a question, they'll generally just ignore you. It serves to make you feel helpless. Otherwise, if they answered you'd feel like you have at least a little power or freedom.

But when they ask questions, it's not even a request. It's a demand. Even if the syntax and grammar are (for legal purposes) technically a request, you hear the tone of voice, you see the look in the eyes, you read the body language - it's a demand. Resistance is futile - that's the message in their every glance, every stance, every sentence, every silence, every action or reaction.

They call it "controlling the scene".

The goal is to make you feel a tremendous imbalance of power. i.e. they have it all and you have none. Makes their jobs easier that way. Makes it safer that way. They like safe and easy.

So what happens if you do anything - anything at all - to assert that you have any power at all? Even the power to choose whether you sit inside your car or stand beside it?

It invokes their wrath quickly. Almost every time. Because they're not public servants anymore - they're control freaks, bullies, pirates, and hunters of humans.

They're more like poorly trained guard dogs than people.

So anyway... I got to spend another half hour of my life handcuffed in the back of a cop car. They call this "sweating", a mild form of psychological torture. It's their way of personally punishing people they don't like. My "crime" wasn't even worth a trip to jail, apparently. So the best he could do was to hold me hostage for a half hour.

Ordinarily, it's a scary thing. The helplessness, the fear of going to jail, the fear of leaving your car behind, of missing work, etc. Cops love it.

Unfortunately for Rambo there, others before him have worn out that trick. I'm used to it. Which is funny because I'm not a criminal. I don't rob people, I don't break things that aren't my own, I don't trespass on people's property or steal from stores or assault people, or... anything. I write software, I do Indymedia work, and I live my life.

Yet even this "sweating" treatment doesn't work on me anymore. Somewhere along the way, I got used to it. And considering that this is NOT Russia or North Korea or China or Pakistan or Iran, this is America - California - fucking Santa Cruz no less! - something is very wrong when someone with my life can get used to being handcuffed and held hostage.

I was released with just a ticket, of course. Usually I don't even get that. Just handcuffed, shoved around, humiliated.. sometimes they'll hold me outside the car, if it's especially cold out (while they stand around in their very warm winter jackets. I, of course, am forbidden from getting mine if I didn't have it on already.)

And threatened too. Sometimes the threats are legal - jail, car towed (they just love charging you "storage fees" - why do you think I parked in the parking lot instead of on the street where he wanted? I've played this game many times.) Sometimes blatantly illegal. Had a cop threaten to break my arm if I didn't submit to a search for needle tracks. Right in front of his partner, too. No other witnesses of course. His word against mine. I filed a complaint anyway, the next day. Guess how far it went.

What was my crime then? Walking down the middle of a downtown street at 2am. I told him I was avoiding the side shadows for safety because there were *absolutely no* cars on the road at that hour in that neighborhood anyway. He claimed this made no sense, that I was clearly on drugs, and forcibly searched me for crack. (As usual, he found nothing.)

Then there was the time a few months ago, up at the Summit parking lot on highway 17 watching the meteor shower. Most the other cars were gone. We arrived late, and so stuck it out.

Cop comes off the freeway. Drives right up to us. Turns on every bright light he has, right into our faces. It doesn't get much more rude than that, especially when your night vision is already well adjusted for stargazing. As usual, I demanded his reason for this rudeness. As usual, he had none to offer ("loitering" was the best he could do that night). As usual I bitched him out for being a rude, beligerent piece of shit who got off harrassing innocent people.

And as usual, I wound up in handcuffs for a half hour.

And then released. No ticket, no charges, no warning, nothing. My only crime was failure to lick the boot of gestapo. My only crime was standing up to them, demanding that I be treated with common courtesy, and giving them the verbal tongue lashing and ethics lecture that THEIR crime had earned them.

And by courtesy I don't mean this empty "sir" or "madam" crap as they shove me up against the fender of a Crown Vic. I mean leaving me alone and minding their own business as long as it's clear I'm doing the same. Or at least restricting the execution of their "duties" to law enforcement, instead of using the immense power given them in the pursuit of their personal ego trips.

That's when their true colors show, and you get to see the true face of the beast. In a flash they appoint themselves judge, jury, and executioner, and find a way to punish you.

Sure, I insult them. Insult, criticize, lecture.. I'd flay the pig skin from their bodies if I could find the words. WHEN THEY APPROACH ME WITH UNJUSTIFIED THREATS OF FORCE.

It's verbal self defense - the only kind we're allowed in this police state anymore. I'd treat a beligerent drunk or a gang banger no better. They're all the same when their actions place them on the wrong side of common courtesy.

Sure, they'd "go easier" on me if I just kept my mouth shut - like all of you do. Is that my fault? Does your cowardice, your submission, your surrender cancel my right to abuse my abusers to the best of my ability? Does it cancel my RIGHT to be left the fuck alone so long as I mind my own business?

Yes, I'd like some sympathy and support from my fellow citizens. But I don't expect it. That's what you, the reader, will fail to understand. I don't expect your help. Americans, as people, abandoned their fellow man long ago. You won't stand up for each other anymore, not really. You'd rather tell me I bring this on myself.

Just like a housewife whose husband wouldn't beat her as badly if she'd only take a few slaps quietly.

Or a girl who wouldn't get beaten at all, if only she'd stop struggling and let some drunken frat boy rape her.

Or a child, who wouldn't have to get a bloody nose if he'd only hand the bully his lunch money without a fight every Monday.

It's a coward who only fights battles he can win. Especially when those battles are in self-defense.

These are your police, whose salaries you pay and whose orders you obey. So-called public servants, so-called professionals, so-called adults. Put them in their place sometime, or breath without first saying "Mother may I?", and watch how they oh-so-responsibly use their power and their get-of-out-jail-free-card for simple revenge. Then ask yourself if these are people who should be trusted with power over the rest of us.

Who's in the Summit Cafe parking lot on 17 right now, handcuffed and shoved against the car for brandishing an attitude?

Who's going to be downtown tomorrow afternoon, handcuffed and held hostage for half an hour and charged with "obstructing justice" for simply getting out of his own car in defiance of some cop's ego-driven thirst for total domination of his prey?

Sure, I'll fight the charge - though the cop has already gotten what he wanted out of it, and will likely suffer no repercussions. Think common sense and the American principles of liberty and freedom will prevail? If that were true, none of this would happen in the first place.

Besides, as bad as cops are about resisting the urge to abuse their power for personal gratification, believe me - judges are even worse. "Obstruction of justice" or "contempt of court", it's all the same - just a vague and arbitrary justification for taking you hostage and punishing you for the crimes of speaking your mind and failing to roll over and show your belly.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled servitude, already in progress.

-Van