U.S. Supreme Court Rules 8-1 that Citizens Have No Protection Against Fourth Amendment Violations by Police Officers Ignorant of the Law

I've asked before and I'll ask again. What exactly can I, an average American citizen, DO about this? Voting doesn't work, calling my representatives doesn't work, trying to get friends and family interested doesn't work. Am I destined to sit an watch my rights be stolen away from my be a government that doesn't represent my interests? What the hell can anyone do to stop this?

I posted [in another thread](np.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2put61/what_can_we_as_americans_do_about_the_current_two/cn0bmcr?context=3) about what you can do, I'll add my posts together into my reply here, bear in mind some are responses to questions that will make more sense in the original thread.



Wolf Pac. www.wolf-pac.com

If you are unaware, the basic premise is to amend the Constitution to take money out of politics(hold on - I think it's actually possible!!!) by completely going around Congress and using the other amendment method, which is by passing it in State legislatures. All of the current problems boil down to money - fix that and you will solve nearly every other issue. No other plan, IMO, is as practical as the wolfpac solution.

Most State elections are small fry affairs, 25% of them aren't even contested. Right now, you can ring you local representatives and probably talk to them. They can be convinced, and they can be reasoned with over a cup of Starbucks. Because State government is almost totally ignored by voters, organized citizens have unmatched influence. This sort of access would be impossible with national politicians.

This was the update for when California passed it.

This is why 3 States, including California, have already passed this legislation. I believe in 2015 it's already scheduled for a vote in at least 10 different legislatures. 95% of Americans agree that money corrupts politics, it's actually fairly easy to convince legislators, GOP and Democrat, that this is a good idea.

And besides, we have George Takei on our side. It's in the bag.


Just to add to my original post after reviewing other suggestions. People often have good ideas, but no way to implement them. "Stop re-electing incumbents" is the top idea, but the actual statistics are that in the last Congress 92% were re-elected, and in 19/20 cases the candidate with the most money won. Unless you have a plan to raise billions of dollars, this isn't a solution that can work in the real world. Similarly, banning lobbyists would be great, but why on earth would a Congress fuelled by lobbyists ever consider this?

Nearly all of the replies have theoretical solutions, I believe Wolf-pac is the only idea that was suggested to actually DO SOMETHING, and better than that it's been passed by the biggest State in the Union. It's not just a theory. Right now, you can go onto the website, follow the directions, and call your local legislators.

Right now!

How about making three calls a day to different reps, throwing in a $10 donation and asking your friends or parents to do the same? In October 2012, there were 17,000 Wolfpac members, God knows how many it is now. These calls and meetings add up. When you join the google group for your state, you can see a list of all the legislators and their thoughts on the amendment. Find some guys that need convincing, and get calling.

Right now!!!


You can still be a supporter by making donations. In the last elections, the funds were used to set up a campaign office to try and kick out a 6-term incumbent in New Hampshire that blocked the resolution. Wolfpac uses a carrot and stick approach, regardless of party affiliation or other political views.

In a district where the vote totals are in the low thousands, a team of Wolfpac members door knocking and phone dialling based in a coordinated campaign office can kill your re-election chances.

This is what happens when the Wolf-pac attacks.

In New Hampshire, our threats now carry serious weight, because "we done got 'em". You can almost guarantee N.H will be one of the next States on the board. So Wolfpac was announced on October 19th 2011. By the end of year 1, they had 17,000 volunteers, there are vastly more now, possibly 50,000+. The political process is a long one, and here's roughly what happens...

  • A legislator decides they want to sponsor the bill, and then gets as many other legislators as they can to become co-sponsors, it is introduced.

  • When it reaches a certain amount of support, the proposed legislation is given to a committee which is a bipartisan panel, usually about 10 legislators, that look at the proposal and call for public input at hearings. After the committee has heard testimony, they then take a vote on whether to introduce the bill.

  • The bill is introduced in either the State House or State Senate, when it passes it is submitted to the other Chamber, which may also have a committee.

  • Finally it is voted on by the second Chamber.

Because this process takes so long(in Utah the State Government is only open 2 months a year!), we are really only at the beginning of seeing the results. I can tell you that every single legislator in the United States has been contacted multiple times, and that it has sponsors and co-sponsors in every single state. It is in a large number of committees, I think New Jersey had hearings a few weeks ago for example. A sign of our progress is that the Koch Brothers group -Americans for Prosperity turned up to fight us, which means they are taking it seriously!

The number required is actually 34 States(I think they round up), at this point the First Constitutional Convention since 1787 will be created. All the States will send delegates from their legislatures to convene and decide the exact language of the Amendment. After they are happy, the Amendment is sent back to the Legislatures to be ratified. Ratifying requires 38 States, and after this, we have a 28th Amendment.

Notice that this method has actually be used to make the majority of Constitutional Amendments, but what has happened is that as the line gets closer to the Convention Congress jumps into to action and does it pre-emptively. Congress has to do a good job, or otherwise the State proposal process can just continue as planned.

From this point on, things will accelerate rapidly.


Update from 9 days after I posted these responses, we just passed the New Jersey Senate, it's up for a vote some time in the future, so we nearly have NJ too - State number four!!!

Wolfpac NJ Update

Oh, and TexasThrowdown, Here's an update for you about Texas, it's a little old so I'm guessing more progress has been made since.

Wolfpac Texas Update

/r/politics Thread Link - rutherford.org