Tell President Trump: Don't threaten Texas senators for supporting our property rights!
At a meeting with county sheriffs at the White House this week, President Trump threatened a Texas state senator for supporting Just-Liberty backed asset-forfeiture reform legislation, declaring "I want to hear his name. We'll destroy his career."
This is un-presidential behavior, and also wrong on the issues. The Texas reform in question - requiring a criminal conviction before the government can seize and keep private property - is supported by a wide array of conservative groups like the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Heritage Foundation, as well as by the ACLU and liberal reformers. This is moderate, sensible legislation.
Indeed, protecting property rights used to be a conservative stance. But in this instance, President Trump has elevated the economic interests of law enforcement over traditional conservative values.
Texans don't like to be bullied. We need to stand up for our elected officials when Washington D.C. politicians try to intimidate them into backing off their principles.
Take a moment right now to send a message to President Trump. Tell him to stop threatening our politicians and to reconsider his stance on seizing personal assets without a criminal conviction.
Dear President Trump,
When you threatened to "destroy" the career of a Texas state senator for supporting asset-forfeiture reform, that crossed a line.
Texas senators are elected by voters just like you and deserve respect even when you disagree. To make matters worse, in this case you took the wrong side of the issue.
Asset forfeiture has long ago stopped being mainly about drug kingpins and these days is mostly used to go after small-time offenders, typically for assets worth just a few thousand dollars. Government has grown too reliant on this revenue. In 2014, for the first time, the government seized more from US citizens under this program than the total amount burglars stole from Americans nationwide. That's what the Texas legislation is trying to fix.
Ironically, the effort to fix asset forfeiture has been driven mainly by conservatives, from the Right on Crime initiative to the Institute for Justice and the Heritage Foundation. This is not a debate between conservatives and liberals, but between conservatives and law enforcement bureaucrats who've become too reliant on forfeiture revenue.
Texans don't appreciate our elected officials being threatened, especially for taking a conservative stance.
[Your Comment]
Kind regards,
[Your Name]
