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Email UpdatesIrrational fear fuels ALL of our Nanny State legislation, irrational fear of highly unlikely events, events which do happen, but were an acceptable part of life a decade or two ago. Our nation which was founded by risk takers is fast becoming a risk averse nation. The Nanny State is fueled by people who want to prosecute others for taking the most minuscule calculated risks. Paranoid Nanny Staters are calling for the prosecution of New York Sun Columnist Lenore Skenazy who allowed her 9-year-old to ride the subway home alone. She is being attacked for publicly stating that building confident independent children is more important than risk avoidance. Oh the heresy! I don’t know if I’d have the courage and faith to do what she did, but I do know I was allowed this measure of independence when I was 9 and so was every other American kid. Paranoid Nanny Staters say things are different today. It’s far more dangerous. There are more perverts and weirdos than ever. But as Lanore highlights in her column, it is the exact inverse, things are far safer than the 70s and 80s, and abductions are decreasing every year.
From the article:
“The statistics show that this (child abduction) is an incredibly rare event, and you can’t protect people from very rare events. It would be like trying to create a shield against being struck by lightning.”
In another ray of hope - Charges were dropped against Treffly Coyne the suburban mother charged with child neglect for leaving a sleeping two-year-old in a locked car and steeping thirty feet away for less than a minute. But I still find it disturbing that the police arrested her for this. How humiliating. Have the police lost all common sense? When I was a kid, cops didn’t enforce trivial laws, but instead, as members of our community, they made sensible judgements about each situation individually. It almost seems like these young cops are brainwashed. The old-school ones are much more compassionate and intelligent. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss cops like Tony Bouza. I don’t agree with everything he said, but a least he was thinking for himself and not acting like a brain dead zombie. Zero tolerance rules are for robots, not human beings. Human beings have the God given ability to reason. We can understand that everything is not black and white, that every situation is unique and filled with nuance. A free society should reflect our individual ability to reason and judge.
There are those among us who believe individuals cannot be trusted to judge risk, and must be forced under threat of prosecution to avoid risk.
But that brings other questions to mind…
If individuals can’t be trusted to make their own decisions, why should we trust individuals in government to make these decisions? Are they somehow better than us? Smarter than us? It appears they think so.
Treffly Coyne is a fine mother who happened to be out on an excursion planned by her children to donate to charity. A lesson we would all do better to be taught by her kids. Unfortunately the government, very concerned about the welfare of her child stepped in. Somehow the officer saw that a sleeping two year old in a warm and safe locked car with the alarm activated would be better off without the mother who cares for her.
The police would not listen to her story, they refused to listen to witnesses, they did not investigate by going into the store to look at the security video.
Instead, they arrested Treffly Coyne, took custody of her two year old child, broke up her family, and most disturbing, the police abandoned three little girls at the Walmart… left them to their own luck, crying on the curb.
All because the government decided Treffly Coynes family needed its “protection.”
Her children were never in any danger until the representatives of the government showed up.
The police chief of Crestwood Illinois knew that there was no evidence that Ms. Coyne had done anything wrong, yet he still decided she needed to be charged and prosecuted.
For 97 days she was labled a child abuser by the state, investigated by the DCFS or CPS, paid expensive legal bills and suffered the public humiliation brought on by the unsubstantiated charges of the Crestwood Police.
Even when the prosecutor dropped the charges for lack of evidence, the police chief and Mayor Robert Stranczek continued to make public statements against Treffly Coyne.
Treffly Coyne is now suing the Village of Crestwood, police officers James Ciukaj, Forrest Wondolowski and Angel Brudnicki in federal court.
She would have preferred to have won in criminal court.
All she asked for was an apology and that the charges would be dropped. Thousands of dollars later, and hundreds of thousands of posts on the internet, the Crestwood Police cannot even give her that.
A terrible mistake was made that night at the Walmart and the Crestwood Police and Mayor Stranczek refuse to acknowlege it. Until they do, all citizens, all families in Crestwood are in danger of these kinds of police abuse.
Her fight is not over. The federal Judge will hear the case and has the power to direct the Crestwood Police to make changes in their policies and procedures.
Hopefully she will prevail in her fight, which is a fight for all of our civil rights and her case will create stronger boundaries between the family and the police.
It was wrong to arrest that mother and subject her children to witness in terror the actions of the police.
What is more wrong is that the woman has to fight such wrongdoing in federal court.
A victory for Treffly Coyne will be a victory for all American Families. The civil rights she is fighting for our your civil rights as well.
Comment by An American April 4th, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
“If individuals can’t be trusted to make their own decisions, why should we trust individuals in government to make these decisions? Are they somehow better than us? Smarter than us? It appears they think so.”
Frederick Bastiat addressed this idea in “The Law” back in 1850. It is a classic text which should be read by all
“The claims of these organizers of humanity raise another question which I have often asked them and which, so far as I know, they have never answered: If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind? The organizers maintain that society, when left undirected, rushes headlong to its inevitable destruction because the instincts of the people are so perverse. The legislators claim to stop this suicidal course and to give it a saner direction. Apparently, then, the legislators and the organizers have received from Heaven an intelligence and virtue that place them beyond and above mankind; if so, let them show their titles to this superiority.
They would be the shepherds over us, their sheep. Certainly such an arrangement presupposes that they are naturally superior to the rest of us. And certainly we are fully justified in demanding from the legislators and organizers proof of this natural superiority. “
Comment by Orrin Converse April 5th, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
“Instead, they arrested Treffly Coyne, took custody of her two year old child, broke up her family, and most disturbing, the police abandoned three little girls at the Walmart… left them to their own luck, crying on the curb.”
WAIT A COTTON PICKIN’ MINUTE….the police arrested a woman for “abandonment” and then THEY turned around and abandoned the woman’s other kids????? You have GOT to be kidding me!
LL
Comment by The Lady Logician April 5th, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
LL,
What happened to Treffly Coyne should be a wake up call to everyone. There are a lot of people who believe what was done to her was right…
I spoke to people at work about her case and most of them thought she should have been jailed…
When I asked why. They said, “How do we know how long she was away?”
I said, “They should have asked her.”
To which they replied, “You can’t trust people to tell the truth.”
From my informal survey, the average person has been conditioned to believe that the average person cannot be trusted.
Where does that leave liberty? If the average person cannot be trusted?
60 seconds, 30 feet away from her sleeping 2-year-old is grounds to have her children taken away… why? because no one can be trusted. We must assume the worst.
It is perfect example of what is going wrong in our culture.
Folks, it is time to turn off the mainstream media. It is turning us into paranoid kooks.
Comment by The Savage April 5th, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
It wasn’t the police officers mistrust in the Treffly Coyne case that was the problem… it was the malice and prejudice that the officer exhibited. Officer Angel Brudnicki didn’t have to trust Ms. Coyne… she could have just walked into the Walmart and asked to see the video tape. THE ENTIRE INCIDENT WAS CAUGHT ON VIDEO. She could have asked the Salvation Army bellringer if Ms. Coyne was telling the truth. The officer drove him off under the threat of arrest.
Instead, it was easier to arrest mom in front of the kids, have the state take custody of a two year old and yes, ABANDON THREE LITTLE GIRLS AT THE WALMART. LEAVE THEM TO LUCK ON THE SIDEWALK AFTER TRAUMATIZING THEM.
When did the law change so that the police can completely forego investigation and just arrest and charge someone? Shouldn’t the police have taken witness statements? Shouldn’t they have tried to talk to the three little girls instead of just ignore the crying little kids they just turned into victims of the police state?
NO, ITS EASIER JUST TO TEAR APART AN INNOCENT FAMILY AND TERRORIZE A FEW LITTLE KIDS BECAUSE THESE POLICE OFFICERS THOUGHT THEY WOULD GET AWAY WITH IT.
Something is very wrong when the police attack a family.
Something has gone wrong when we give an officer the power to hurt people, even kill, yet we don’t even consider their integrity or reason.
MAYBE IF THE FIRST COP ON THE SCENE WASN’T HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH THE SECOND COP ON THE SCENE MS. COYNE WOULD HAVE HAD A SHOT AT FAIRNESS.
They continued to say Treffly Coyne was a child abuser for 97 days after they knew she had done nothing wrong.
They tried to use the law to punish Ms. Coyne not for a crime, but for having the gall to point out the indecency of what they had done.
They tried to destroy Treffly Coyne, her reputation and her family name, using the power the state has given them.
The misconduct of the Crestwood Police in this case has brought attention onto the city of Crestwood, the affairs of it’s ruling family the Stranczeks as well as police chief Timothy Sulikowski and Mayor Robert Stranczek.
Something is very wrong in Crestwood Illinois. Something that needs to be stopped.
And that should start with the firing of police chief Sulikowski, and if that doesn’t happen, the mayor RObert Stranczek should be removed in next years election.
Comment by An American April 5th, 2008 @ 10:48 pm
“The Savage” comment is right on… we should be scared because people think Ms. Coyne should have been jailed “because we don’t know how long she was really gone.”
PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY ARE BLINDED BY THEIR FEARS.
Thats what scares me the most… people who think so little of our civil liberties that a person should be jailed BECAUSE A COP DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.
Maybe the Crestwood Police shouldn’t “shoot first and ask questions later.” Especially when children are involved.
So much of this seems to be the fault of the educational system… they are not educating children deeply enough on their civil rights… there’s too much conflict in THAT lesson, especially when officer Bill will be giving an interactive lecture on drugs later that day, followed by a complimentary locker search…
Comment by An American April 5th, 2008 @ 11:01 pm
Like your message and wish you luck. I have been writing about these things with not much of an audience, and have pretty much given up being a voice in th wilderness.
I have about a 12 months of posts over at The Sovereign Journey, just do a search. Don’t want you to think I am trying to spam your blog, so I have not included a link.
Comment by Digitalnomad April 6th, 2008 @ 7:05 am
@digitalnomad,
Thanks for stopping by and telling us about your site. We will get the message out… keep up the good work! I’m going to put up a resources page when I get more time… soon.
Comment by The Savage April 6th, 2008 @ 6:51 pm
The police chief in Crestwood Illinois, Timothy Sulikowski “resigned” today. Many say it was this case that led to his leaving the department. There is justice, it took awhile, but the voices around the world and the words on the internet WORKED!
The world is one tiny bit closer to justice today, and innocent people are much safer in Crestwood Illinois.
To Liberty!
Comment by Justice Seeker June 20th, 2008 @ 9:58 am