Forget Homeland Security, Now It's About "Environmental Justice"

By Alan Caruba

It is the nature of any government to seek to expand its authority. The Founding Fathers knew this and gifted Americans with a Constitution that limits authority devolving it to the states and to “the people.” Read the Tenth Amendment. It isn’t working.

The freedoms they sought to establish and preserve for future generations are being eaten away and we tend only to hear about in individual cases when, in fact, it is so widespread we accept the injustices, the inefficiencies, and the enslavement in increments.

After 9/11 it was clear that some reorganization was needed to ensure that various enforcement and other agencies could communicate and coordinate more effectively in order to wage “a war on terror.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created. The sheer size of it should have been a warning.

One of its siblings was the Transportation Security Administration that currently makes taking a flight anywhere a nightmare of intrusive groping and, because one failed bomber used explosive in his shoes, everyone now must remove theirs to get on a flight.

Fifty-seven years ago, the State of New Jersey issued me my first driver’s license. For years all one needed to do was renew by mail, but after 9/11, it was decided that every license had to include a photo. A very high tech license resulted, but it also means that, if you live in New Jersey, every four years you are going to spend a minimum of two hours in your nearest motor vehicle agency standing in line and sitting around for your number to be called in order to renew.

You need bring several documents with you such as a passport, birth certificate, and Medicare card. Just one won’t do. Even though I already have a license with a photo (it was on record at the agency so there was no need for a new photo), I still had to personally prove I am who I am to receive a renewed license. In an age of computerized records of birth and residence, the whole process struck me as overkill.

After December 1, 2012, New Jersey will join eight other States to issue a driver’s license with a gold star in the upper right corner. Without it, I will not be allowed to board a domestic flight or visit a federal building. Do I feel any more secure? Not really. In fact, what I really feel is the tightening grip of the federal and state government on my freedom to drive my car, get on an airplane, or legitimately enter a building in which the work of the federal government is being conducted. This is less about security and far more about authoritarian control.

Environmental Justice
I tell you this because I doubt you are aware that the Department of Homeland Security has added a whole new layer of authority to its portfolio. You thought it was about protecting the nation against acts of terrorism. Now it is about enforcing “environmental justice.”

The DHS has added Green Police to its concerns and, if you think this has nothing whatever to do with some jihadists trying to kill a lot of people as was the case on 9/11, you would be right.

According to a DHS report entitled “Environmental Justice Strategy”, issued February 2012, it is a “commitment of the Federal Government, through its policies, programs, and activities, to avoid placing disproportionately high and adverse effects on the human health and environment of minority or low-income populations.”

This has NOTHING to do with homeland security by the wildest stretch of the imagination and yet it is, according to DHS, federal policy. It gets its authority from Executive Order 12898 and this is the way government expands and expands and expands beyond what citizens expect or request.

The results are always predictable. Ordinary people who just want to be left alone discover that the government has defined the ownership of their land and property as a criminal act.

When Chantell and Mike Sackett found themselves locked into battle with the Environmental Protection Agency that had decided their land was a wetland, they battled the EPA all the way to the Supreme Court which granted them a unanimous decision in their favor on March 12th of this year. This kind of “law enforcement” by the EPA has been common over the years, but Congress has done little to rein in its typical bullying tactics.

Now add to the EPA, the Homeland Security Department with its own Green Police empowered to protect “minority and low-income populations.” This is a deliberate effort to divide Americans from one another, inspiring racial and class warfare. It is a vast reinterpretation of its responsibilities and authority.

Welcome to the Soviet Union of America or the National Socialist States of America.

Tags: EPA, Environmental-Justice, Homeland-Security

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Comment by SHARRON AMSTER on April 30, 2012 at 2:17pm: Don't kid yourself. They would open fire on us and say it is an up risen and they have W will the right to up it down. We will get them out and they will pay for all the things they have done. Stand strong and God Bless

Comment by Juliana Heaslet on April 30, 2012 at 9:00am: If Americans all got together wearing our red, white, and blue, we could storm the W.H...peacefully...with whole world watching...strength in numbers...The Government wont stop functioning, all the politicians do is make new laws to benefit themselves or their elite buddies...all we need is military to take care of our security...each State can put in an elected person FOR AND BY THE PEOPLE on a 4yr term limit...that's what's wrong with the Government now...to many politicians with their own agenda...

Comment by SHARRON AMSTER on April 29, 2012 at 11:37am: Juliana' If we storm the W.H and live to tell. who is going to run the country? There must be someone to carry out our laws. This is not a free for all. Yes we will fight and we are going to live through this . The brotherhood is very well armed. OB saw to that and there a.e a lot in the country. This is war. We will stand.

Comment by Juliana Heaslet on April 29, 2012 at 11:24am: Even if we get Romney in office nothing will change...all politicians love their power, and living off our dime. Why do you think they are all millionaires? They work on salary, but have millions. They all should be prosecuted, but get voted back in...cant you see our voting is going to change nothing...if ppl would just stand together and storm the W.H. we would have our own power...we need to tell them how its going to be...nothing will change until AMERICANS STAND...

Comment by Douglas W. Dragert on April 29, 2012 at 10:57am: When I joined the Army I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. There was no expiration date on that oath. I am ready, willing and able to enact that oath again. The government has just about reached its limit with treading on my Constitution, my God given rights and my liberty. It's time to stand firm and push back!

Comment by Sumsanity on April 29, 2012 at 10:34am: I heard about this on the radio Friday morning. More evidence the EPA and the Federal Government are totally out of control. Sadly I think the only thing that will reverse the trend is going to be a financial collapse and a bloody, violent revolution. We are following the pattern too closely.

http://www.apatheticvoter.com/Article_DownfallDemocracies.htm

Comment by SHARRON AMSTER on April 29, 2012 at 10:18am: Juliana' I like the way you think. We still can dream. This going to be a messy fight and all of us must get together . I live in Vt. and they don't care what is going on. I get so upset. But I will fight for my country.

Comment by Neil Thomas Goeckerman on April 29, 2012 at 9:51am: Will Romney repeal all this minutia? Or will he go along with all this economic strangulation? First I guess we should focus on getting Obama out of the office so we at least have a semblance of a chance.

Comment by Juliana Heaslet on April 29, 2012 at 9:06am: You all say you wont take this. Then do something to stop it. Set a date...en mass we will storm the White House...

Comment by SHARRON AMSTER on April 29, 2012 at 6:36am: Brake us into small groups and and control us just the way the Germans did before WW11. This the start of war and no is doing anything to stop it. We are in a war People. Get your life's in order and be ready to fight.