Andrew Napolitano
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It should come as no surprise that President Obama told Ohio State
students at graduation ceremonies last week that they should not
question authority and they should reject the calls of those who do. He
argued that “our brave, creative, unique experiment in self-rule” has
been so successful that trusting the government is the same as trusting
ourselves; hence, challenging the government is the same as challenging
ourselves. And he blasted those who incessantly warn of government
tyranny.
Yet, mistrust of government is as old as America itself. America was
born out of mistrust of government. The revolution that was fought in
the 1770s and 1780s was actually won in the minds of colonists in the
mid-1760s when the British imposed the Stamp Act and used writs of
assistance to enforce it. The Stamp Act required all persons in the
colonies to have government-sold stamps on all documents in their
possession, and writs of assistance permitted search warrants written by
British troops in which they authorized themselves to enter private
homes ostensibly to look for the stamps.
