In August 2013, revelations that the Special Operations Division (SOD) of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration advises agents to practice “parallel construction.” Officers lie to judges to fabricate criminal cases against Americans that are actually based on NSA warrantless surveillance. The report quoted senior DEA officials who claimed such abuses were “decades old.”

When important facts are left out of a warrant application in order to foster a misconception, you get Government that fearlessly dissimulates. When DEA officers hide the real accusation from judges who issue warrants, you get federal agents making false oaths. When dissimulating agents defend their lies, because no illegally obtained evidence will be presented in courts, you get lawless enforcers. When lawless enforcers and military commissioned officers consistently violate their oaths to uphold the 4th Amendment, and a supine judiciary does nothing to stop them, you get authoritarianism. When some idget galoot of a fellow citizen starts with the “ends justify the means” tripe, you get grassroots tyranny.