Because Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. "life, Liberty, and Property" negates "All men are created equal" They are contradictory statements.

And I used to wonder why they said "Life, Liberty, Happiness" and not "Life, Liberty, and Property"

Doesn't the latter seem a whole lot better.

Asset foreiture, warrantless information gathering on individuals, property taxes (which means the government has indebted your property) means you own nothing. If you cannot control what is supposedly your possesion, you are not free. The experiment for a government controlled by the people has failed. Americans are not free.

Asset forfeiture is not really used for drug dealers, as it was originally proposed. It's used on regular people. If they find a lot of cash on you they'll take it. Good luck getting it back.

This reminds me...Has anybody seen the rash of incidents where police in Florida are accusing boaters of being DUI when they are stone sober, taking them into jail? The stories and videos are remarkable. You can see the confusion on the dad's face when he's out with his wife and kids, the kids are crying, and the dad is looking at the cop as if to say, "What the hell!?" It's happening a lot and I assume it's either raw harassment of somebody who has something to lose or asset theft. These people win their battles in court eventually but it should get to that. I've heard similar in California. One beer on the boat and you're screwed.

The pattern persists. If the 16th Amendment legalized seizure of earned income of individuals and companies, then Civil Asset Forfeiture is a logical next step on the road to dictatorship.

The next step? The only certainty is the continued erosion of individual rights. The end of the individual. Only the Group matters.