Just a Little Overkill (10/31/14)

Really high on my list of things not to do is invade Canada. I crossed the border on two separate occasions on this road trip. Once was up at Niagara Falls to visit my friend Scott in Toronto. The second was somewhere just North of North Dakota. Now I could understand the high level of security at a major tourist destination like Niagara Falls, but the militarization of the crossing I used in North Dakota on my way to Winnipeg seemed a little excessive.

I pulled up to the guard station and played 20 questions with the officer. Where are you going? Where are you staying? What is the purpose of for your visit? They were the typical questions you expect to get whenever you are about to enter a foreign country.

“Thank you sir. Now can you please pull over to that shelter and go into that building.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Walking into that building was like walking into an office being run by a SWAT team preparing to breach a target location. Everyone was dressed head to toe in tactical assault gear, side arms on their hips, and assault rifles within arms reach.

“”Sir could you step over there please. Could you empty your pockets? Can I look through your wallet? Could you show me the interior of all of your pockets? Could you pat yourself down so that I’m certain you aren’t carrying any weapons with you? Could you please lift your shirt up?”

I do have to say the agents were very polite as they violated every form of my privacy.

“Sir would you mind if my partner and I searched your vehicle?”

“No. Have at it.”

“Do you know why we are searching your vehicle?”

“Most likely because you are searching for drugs, weapons, or some other forms of contraband.”

“Yes. tThat and child pornography.”

Okay. Really? Where did that come from?

I understand the premise and importance of border protection, but lets be honest isn’t this a little overkill? It is quite possible that the Industrial Military Complex will one day run out of targets across the globe and square its sights on Canada, but I don’t think it will be in my lifetime. At the present moment in time the current circumstances seem to dictate that this is an overwhelmingly large waste of resources, but isn’t that what big bureaucracies do best…waste resources.