Albuquerque to San Diego Route

[agentsteel53]

people are a big enough social problem.  should we start eliminating them for the good of the people?

[realjd]

Mods, can we split the sobriety checkpoint discussion into a separate thread? I'd like to continue the discussion and hear about other states, but it doesn't really fit in with my original topic. Thanks!

[pianocello]

The US Supreme Court ruled that sobriety checkpoints are indeed an infringement on our constitutional 4th amendment rights, but that drunk driving is a big enough social problem that the government is OK infringing on that right for the good of the people. I wish I were joking, but it's true.

Shouldn't they be preserving, protecting, and defending the US Constitution?
Time to move to Canada?

[Dr Frankenstein]

I thought that the Constitution was non-negotiable...

Well, we do have those random sobriety checkpoints in Canada too... especially around Christmas, New Year, Confederation Day, St. Jean-Baptiste Day...

[J N Winkler]

I thought that the Constitution was non-negotiable...

In theory it is.  In practice it is all a matter of interpretation.  We had Jim Crow despite the Fourteenth Amendment.  The businesses got their turn in the late 19th/early 20th century with the Lochner era.  The sixties generation had civil rights.  Now we are in the throes of another neo-Lochner era.

Well, we do have those random sobriety checkpoints in Canada too... especially around Christmas, New Year, Confederation Day, St. Jean-Baptiste Day...

I think every other advanced industrialized country has them too in some form.

[andytom]

I thought that the Constitution was non-negotiable...

The Constitution is general in nature on purpose.  That makes it very negotiable when it comes to specifics.  Sometimes too much so.

--Andy