You are entering...the Constitution-free zone!

Many of you question whether America still has a Constitution at all, but now it's clear that a significant portion of the country is indeed a Constitution-free zone.

I and most other Americans would never expect absolute privacy at a border crossing - but now the government has changed the definition of what "the border" is, just so it can stop travelers who don't even leave the country. Under this definition, "the border" includes not just the international boundary itself, but everything within 100 miles of it. And the baseline isn't where the real boundary is, but where the closest U.S. land is - thus, much of the Canadian boundary is considered to be along the U.S. shores of the Great Lakes.

In total, "the border" now means everything within 100 miles of the seacoasts or the Great Lakes shorelines or the Canadian or Mexican boundaries. Two-thirds of America's population lives in "the border." Even Cincinnati is surprisingly close to it.

Let's say you take a bus from Columbus to Fort Wayne. It's hardly what I'd call an international jaunt - but according to the federal government, it might as well be: If you take the shortest route, most of the trip is within "the border." So federal agents can board the bus at any point arbitrarily and search you.

If you're driving from Raleigh to Norfolk, this too is within "the border." So the Border Patrol can set up checkpoints to stop you. The same is true if you're biking across Minot just to go to the supermarket.

And the government does conduct searches like this now. Agents board buses and trains traveling within the U.S., search passengers, and even detain them - with no probable cause whatsoever. Often they use drug-sniffing dogs.

It's been going on to some extent for a while, but lately it's vastly increased in scope and invasiveness.

Americans have been stopped just traveling near their own homes - and detained even after showing proof of citizenship. Some have been denied water, and some have found that their belongings were taken.

I sure as shit don't feel any safer, do you?

Because of this assault on basic liberty, many Americans (who never leave the country) have obtained passports to make themselves slightly less susceptible when traveling within the country. But I think it's a sad state of affairs when Americans have to carry passports just to travel within their own borders.

(Source: http://www.aclu.org/privacy/37293res20081022.html;
http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-Liberties-Examiner)