The aerial drones in Virginia may be gone for now, but the
two-year moratorium approved by the Virginia General Assembly on Thursday may
just be the political cover necessary for Virginia’s politicians to brush off
criticisms and enact this horrendous idea in the future.[1]
The House of Delegates, usually a bastion of conservatism in
Virginia, incredibly passed the moratorium bill on Wednesday. The Senate passed
the House amended moratorium bill by an even more incredible 40-0 vote. No dissension!?
According to the sponsor of the moratorium bill, Del.
Benjamin L. Cline (Augusta), “We hope that the governor will also share our
support for a breathing period to get some rules in place.”[2]
Notice that Del. Cline talks about putting “rules in place,” not about whether
the idea of aerial drones is even a good idea in the first place. Apparently,
most members of the Virginia General Assembly have already made up their minds
that aerial drones patrolling Virginia’s skies are a good idea.
But aerial drones have drawn opposition from politically diverse
groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tea Party Patriots
Federation, just to name two. Each side of the political spectrum represented
by these groups are rightfully concerned about the overuse or misuse of aerial
drones.
Rutherford Institute President John W. Whitehead had this to
say about the use of aerial drones, “No matter where one stands on the issue of
drone use domestically, it is clear that we need to take a well-reasoned approach
to how drone technology will be implemented and what safeguards are necessary
to ensure that Americans’ safety, privacy, and civil liberties are not
jeopardized.”[3]
All Virginians and all Americans should be concerned about
the domestic use of aerial drones. It is practically a law of government
behavior that if a technology can be used to spy on its people, it almost
certainly will at one point or another. And I don’t mean just individuals who
are breaking the law; I mean peaceful and non-lawbreaking Americans whose only
misdeed is attempting to uphold the letter of America’s Constitution.
At the last peaceful environmental rally I attended, D.C.
Police were taking pictures of the throngs of rally-goers. Why? Why does law
enforcement spend so many of our taxpayer dollars on surveying Americans who
simply wish to express their freedom of speech? Is this a crime now too? If
police can so blatantly photograph (and implicitly intimidate) peaceful
rally-goers, what will they do with aerial drones!?
Aerial drones may decrease crime rates and/or increase the
amount of criminals who are caught and the time it takes to catch them. But
aerial drones could also be one more piece in the arsenal of our country’s
growing police state, an arsenal that can be unleashed on the American people
to infringe on our natural and civic rights. That is a potential cost that
outshines any potential benefit I can imagine from the use of aerial drones.
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