I was going to respond to this but tschmidlin said basically everything I wanted to say. But I’ve already typed all this up so I’m going to post anyway! Nyah!
Re Cap’s EU roadblock thing:
I’ve never, ever seen a roadblock with Gendarmes testing for anything here. Note however that I am never driving at night unless we’re on a road trip, and I like to be in bed by 8:30 because if I’m up too late my after-dinner prunes don’t sit well with my stomach.
My wife is actually working on getting her driver’s license here so I can ask her what the rules are. I know they got REALLY strict about a decade ago - before that it was pretty lenient and France had the highest mortality rate in Europe due to drunk driving.
Re Everything else:
After following this thread and all the “unconstitutional to be breathalyzed” stuff, I have one question: if you’re up on murder charges and have had DNA testing done to prove that your bodily fluids were present at the scene, does that make the DNA test “trial by machine?” No, because you still have to go before a judge.
As far as I am aware, when you are arrested after failing a breathalyzer, you’re being put into custody pending a trial by a real judge, the same way someone accused of murder is put into custody to prevent them from fleeing. Your breathalyzer results will be put before the judge as evidence of your crime, in the same way that DNA evidence will be used against you.
It is absolutely your right to argue in court that the breathalyzer was unconstitutional, or that it was inaccurate, etc. But you have to do it in court.
Refusing to do something mandated by law when you disagree with said law is called CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. It is a wonderful, beautiful method of change, but part of civil disobedience is understanding that it’s super annoying and can take a lot of work. The courts system takes a long time to go through because EVERYONE deserves a fair trial and that can take a LOT of time. If you want to fight this, then go to court. Of course it costs money and time. Don’t have money and time? Don’t engage in civil disobedience. Don’t want to sit still and allow things that you disagree with to happen? Find anybody that agrees with you and either hire a lawyer for a class action suit or petition the government for a change in the law or go political and work to elect people who agree with you. “I have a job and family responsibilities” is not a reason for inaction if your convictions are strong enough…
I’m trying REALLY hard not to be political on this forumg. But I still want to say this: it seems to me that these days a lot of Americans across the political spectrum - Conservative, Liberal, Green, Libertarian, and Wacko - want to complain about how things are but they’re too lazy to do what is necessary to fix them. I’m not talking about overthrowing government or something, that’s a lazy way out, too. You want to fix something, you have to use the system. It takes time, and money, and courage and conviction. Too many people are more concerned with how so-and-so is doing on The Biggest Loser than they are with where the country is headed. Jefferson said, famously, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” He said that during a time of revolution in America, before our democratic systems were in place. Were he alive today, I think he would say instead, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the sweat of patriots.”
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Also of note, it’s apparently illegal to refuse a search in France (so says my wife). Not sure how I feel about that.
