"Conform or be cast out..."

That's the theme of a song by Rush called Subdivisions, perhaps truer now than when written in the early '80s. For such an "independent" culture, it's amazing how much conformity is increasingly not only expected, but enforced. Illegally.

Take this example, as reported by the New York Post a couple of days ago. Last year during the singing of "God Bless America", a fan was ejected from the game because his bladder apparently interrupted the song with some urgency. In heading toward the restroom, mid-song, he was out of accord with the spirit of conformity, of course--blasphemy! Eject those who demonstrate their hostility with non-conformity. "Conform or be cast out," in other words. Of course the cops hold that he was disorderly in a drunken manner. Perhaps. Non-conformity is often deemed "disorderly" by those in power.

Cops made this same claim in this case, too, but it was clearly a lie, as the victim of this attempted force of conformity has evidence by means of recorded audio of the entire ordeal. This guy is leaving a Costco parking lot, but has no choice but to be routed through a DUI checkpoint. He's picked out of the crowd, and--being tired of such DUI stops--decides to see what happens if he doesn't answer the officer's question regarding drinking this time. Well, that's clearly not in the spirit of conformity, either. Despite the fact that the fifth amendment guarantees the right not to self-incriminate (and to stay silent) and the fourth amendment guarantees the right not to be subject to unreasonable searches or seizures, the officer instead demands an instant breathalyzer test as a must-conform "lawful order". Hmmm. Much worse, the officer this man first encountered stated to his superior that this driver had watery red eyes as cause of suspicion of drunkenness. When in the light (after the car was seized by officers), it was apparent this wasn't true. So the officer then alleged the smell of alcohol on the driver as cause of suspicion, changing his story. Even though this was obviously not true either, the superior involved insisted the driver could either submit to the breathalyzer or go directly to jail for failing to obey a "lawful order". Conform or lose your freedom.

Does anyone see anything wrong with all this?

My understanding is that the duty of law enforcement is to "protect and to serve" through enforcing laws. Which laws, exactly, are these officers enforcing? Are they enforcing any laws? Or are they enforcing laws that are in stark non-conformity with the Bill of Rights? Obviously, such laws--if they exist at all--would be illegitimate. I would think falsification of evidence (lying) would be taken quite seriously among law enforcement circles, but we don't know how this trumped up DUI case played out in the end.

We seem to be in a bit of transition in this country--from the our inalienable rights as given by our Creator (not our government), to a sort of constant-flux Calvinball set of rules, which change at the whim of tyrants to best fit the security of their rule. Lets not have any absolute standards of ethics and behavior, lest we lose the power of our whims--and with that, the power to remove the freedoms of any who do not conform. Conform or be cast out!