OT: My thoughts exactly...

That was probably around the time the Puritans were burning witches in Salem, too. That was a mistake - sorry about that one.

Anecdotally, as of recently I don't find MA as it currently is to be particularly intrusive on personal rights at all, or at least what I consider to be the important ones, like what religion I choose to partake in, or what goes on between consenting adults in the privacy of their own home, or where I choose to work or what I decide to spend my money on. I was stopped a while back late at night by an officer for having an expired registration tag (whoops!); he was out drunk-hunting and as soon as he noticed no smell of alcohol he just said "Ok, get it fixed and have a good night!" and was on his way. No ID even requested.

MA does have a bunch of laws to control what some people would call "personal rights" but others would call just general douchebaggery, like parking in handicapped spaces, drinking/vomiting/urinating in public, setting off fireworks in your backyard that's 24 inches away from your neighbors and annoying the shit of them for 9 hours on the 4th, running around in public with guns, drunk/reckless driving and speeding, and so forth.

How many state laws is AZ trying to pass to make it a crime for not carrying your ID on you at all times, even as a passenger in a vehicle? No LEO in MA has ever asked me for my name or ID when I was just walking around, never, even the couple times I've been stopped on foot late at night when they were "just curious" what I was up to (walking back to my car from work, usually.

And AFAIK my Dominican friend down in Rhode Island has never been asked for his, either. Rhode Island is the 10th most Hispanic state in the union by percentages but has a violent crime rate well below the national average. They must've got all the "good" ones, or something.

Reply to
bitrex
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Also, how did the officer know you were working on a Sunday? You kow you don't have to tell them anything if they're asking you to incriminate yourself, right? Just say you're out for a walk

Reply to
bitrex

Do you actually have ID documents in the USA? How, um, authoritarian.

The nearest we get here are passports and driving licences, and my driving licence doesn't have a photo on it. I /never/ carry those around with me. The only time I use them is when opening a bank account (and even that is spotty), and exiting/entering the country.

Occasionally I get some idiot shopkeeper-type-droid that wants my ID. I ask them if they have a needle and where should UI put the drop of blood. If they claim that isn't ID, then I point out that in many countries it is sufficient to have me judicially killed. So far that's always shut them up.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Your drivers license is your de-facto "papers" and all drivers licenses AFAIK have your photo on it, and your social security number is your de-facto unique citizen identification number. Everyone and their mother asks for them constantly for just about every purpose under the sun _except_ driving and social security.

Reply to
bitrex

Ach, I'd forgotten about your SSN. Our equivalent, the National Insurance Number, is never required except when dealing with the government. And that's the way it /should/ be!

Reply to
Tom Gardner

You just send your statists to the federal government to control the rest of us.

NY was like that when I first moved there. It was a dump. Still is.

Reply to
krw

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