The Right To Liberty Threatened By Government

The right to liberty is supposed to be respected by all governments within the jurisdiction of the United States but that is obviously not the case in Atlanta, GA as this excerpt shows.

Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine. He vows to fight the citation in court.

It is true that there are limits in the right to liberty in that it does not allow license. In this case there is no evidence that the cited man even profited by his action much less showed lack of ethical restraint.

Here is a second case that occurred in Kansas City, Kansas where governmental agents in the form of school officials exceeded their authority.

A school superintendent apologized to a student who was suspended last week for speaking Spanish at school.

In this case at least I do not see why speaking Spanish violates the formation of a more perfect union, the establishment of justice, or any other exception mentioned in the preamble of the Constitution.

I do admit that there is cases when speaking Spanish may violate the rule of liberty such as an individual acts disruptive by refusing to speak the common language of the United States because it is not their preferred language. Or in the first case if the man acted larcenous and had strove to obtain a monopoly on token’s so he could sell them at scalping rates.