US Court Orders Tyranny!

By Tom Rhodes, 8/18/2013

Federal Court orders confirm that you are a slave and we live in a totalitarian society. There is a difference between socialism and communism, but the totalitarian control of production and distribution of goods and services is the core of both, the USA is now a Totalitarian Republic. The US Government is saying that a company providing voluntary services to other people, of which there are many other voluntary providers, cannot go out of business. The company in question is Lavabit. It provides secure encrypted email services. Ladar Levison started Lavabit 10 years ago to capitalize on public concerns about the Patriot Act, offering paying customers encrypted email, that make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for law enforcement agents to decipher.

The government gave him a court order to provide the content of ALL email from ALL his customers to the government without letting his customers know. In as much as this totally compromised the reason he created the company rather than comply he shut the company down. In an NBC Article it is reported that “James Trump, a senior litigation counsel in the U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria, Va., sent an email to Levison's lawyer last Thursday – the day Lavabit was shuttered -- stating that Levison may have "violated the court order," a statement that was interpreted as a possible threat to charge Levison with contempt of court.” NBC’s byline for the article is an appropriate “ from the either-you-help-us-spy-on-people-or-you're-a-criminal dept”

If this happens it means that legally you can be required to work against your will. Isn’t that slavery? If not slavery it is clearly the actions of a totalitarian government that is not limited in any way as to what it can demand of common people.

We live in a Constitutional Republic where the government has (had) limited and defined powers. Specifically the clearly stated Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights states that: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Modern technology has changed wat papers and effect look like, but there is no reasonable way to say the government has the authority to search your every email. Rather than enable the government to violate the 4th, Lavabit choose to cease to provide services designed to protect individuals from government violation of their 4th amendment rights.

The very idea that the government can force companies to violate the limits placed on government means that we no longer live in a free republic but in a totalitarian state. In as much as the two major parties are now simply different wings of the Statist Federal Government, and offer no real choice the only nominal power we have is our wallets, boycotting businesses and government agencies that don’t meet our wishes, and rewarding those that do is the only nominal power we have. This action of the government means they are now going after that power as well.

Limits on government and the very Rule of Law in the USA is dead. We now live under a government that claims the power to force you to do business regardless of your need or wants, a literal and virtual tyrannical state. What do we do when the government declares you a criminal when you refuse to help the government violate the 4th Amendment and spy on your neighbors, customers, and fellow Americans?