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Ari Armstrong's Select March 1999 Posts
Following are several posts I wrote and published in March 1999 through the Colorado Freedom Report, ported here on September 8, 2025. All contents copyright © by Ari Armstrong. One of the posts was written by Richard Lamping, as noted. Please note that my perspectives have changed somewhat in the intervening quarter-century.
Topics include immigration, a police bodily search, and political strategy.
Juan Adame Sainz, American Hero
by Ari Armstrong, March 1999
Judge Daniel B. Sparr of the US District Court of Denver sentenced Juan Adame Sainz to 15 months imprisonment for hiring illegal immigrants on Colorado's Western Slope. Adame will likely be deported after serving his term, even though he has a wife and two daughters living in the States (Rocky Mountain News, February 24, 1999, page 7A, article by Hector Gutierrez).
The State calls this man a criminal. I call him an American Hero.
dame deserves our admiration for helping nearly 100 Mexican nationals find better work and a better way of life for themselves and their families. He also deserves our praise for providing less expensive, quality services to customers across the Western Slope. Juan Adame Sainz is a benefactor of humanity, an entrepreneur, and a model citizen. He realizes that "an unjust law is no law at all," and that sometimes civil disobedience is the only humane course. Though he lost it all in the end, he proved that the American dream is alive and well, at least in a few places. Immigrants can still make a better way for themselves in this land where Freedom used to reign supreme.
Now, those who practice Freedom, those who work to create a better life for themselves and others through strictly voluntary interaction, are labeled "criminals." But I call the State the criminal.
Judge Sparr said, "Same old story, counsel. It's greed!" The judge had it right, but directed his sarcasm in the wrong direction. Adame engaged only in voluntaristic, mutually beneficial exchanges. "Greed" or no, this is perfectly moral, perfectly beneficial activity. "Greed" in its negative sense, meaning greed that hurts other people, was practiced solely by the State and the special interests who jockey to control it. It was destructive greed that allowed the unions and other organizations to create forcible monopolies in the labor market. It is destructive greed that permits certain US Citizens to practice their xenophobia and keep out people of different ethnicities. It is destructive greed that allows so many so-called "law" enforcers to pilfer tax-dollars for a wholly immoral, economically damaging, and rights-violating purpose.
The only thing Adame is "guilty" of is bringing together workers and customers in mutually beneficial exchanges. Adame manifests the essence of the true American spirit. These other miscreants, who dare use the force of government to benefit special-interest groups and throw competitors in jail, are not worthy of the name, American.
What is Adame "guilty" of? Providing contracting and farming work. Useful, needed jobs. I know. My grandfather has spent his life raising peaches in Palisade. I put in many days planting trees, shoveling manure, thinning and picking peaches with my grandfather. It was good, honest money and I'm better for the experience. He also hired Mexican nationals for many years to thin and pick his peaches. They were hard-working employees who appreciated my grandfather, as he treated them well, even paying my Uncle Joe to cook terrific meals out in the Cook House, which I frequented as a boy. The Mexicans were happy to have a relatively high-paying job in a relatively pleasant environment. After picking cotton in the winter, they would say, "We're on vacation here!"
One day a prissy white man came to ask my grandfather for a job. After my grandfather told the man what the going rate of pay was, the man said, "Why, I can make more than that on welfare!" My grandfather in anger stormed, "Then you go get on welfare, you worthless SOB!" The American spirit is more alive in the Mexicans working illegally for Juan Adame Sainz than it is in altogether too many US citizens. It is a shame that we will no longer be able to benefit from the services and high ethical standards of these Mexican immigrants.
The State may have sentenced Juan Adame Sainz to prison. But it passed judgment only on itself.
Westminster Police Frisk, Search Hispanic Man for Fidgeting with Calculator
by Ari Armstrong, March 1999
February 24, 1999 -- A few hours ago, in the early afternoon (around 1:00), I witnessed what seemed to be a violation of the civil liberties of a Latino American.
I had a gift certificate to Walmart, so I dropped by the store in Westminster (off Sheridan just north of 92nd) to purchase some automobile oil. As I parked, I saw a police car stopped in the lane a few stalls down from me with its lights on, blocking a red car that looked like a Transam. I exited my car and could see that a female police officer was demanding that a man sitting in the driver's seat of the red vehicle come out of the car. He was a Latino man, probably late 20s, with long, curly hair, wearing a baseball cap. He protested at first, but then followed the police officer's order.
The female officer either held the man's hands behind his back or cuffed him -- I couldn't tell from my position -- as she frisked him. By this time, I had stopped to observe. The male police officer, whom I later discovered to be R.C. Patrick with the Westminster Police, confronted me. He asked, "Does this car belong to you?" I replied, "No, it doesn't." He asked, "Do you know this man?" I replied, "No, I do not."
He said, "Then this doesn't concern you." I replied, "Well, I'm a citizen." He asked me to move to a greater distance and not interfere. He said that if I had questions he would address them later. I complied, observing from farther away.
The female officer searched the Latino man's vehicle as Patrick interrogated the man. The female, apparently convinced that the man wasn't harboring drugs or illegal immigrants in his car, soon joined Patrick. I couldn't hear every part of the interrogation, but it was clear that the officers were asking him about his family, the legitimacy of his driver's license, and so forth.
The man, after his initial verbal protest, acted in a very submissive, friendly way. He was trying to let the police know he wasn't dangerous in any way, and still retain some dignity. He spoke with a Spanish accent. I never gathered whether he was born in the United States or if he immigrated here.
After the police officers were finished with the gentleman, he walked back toward Walmart. Patrick got in his vehicle but could tell that I wanted to chat with him. I told him I had concerns that there didn't seem to be probable cause for the search and interrogation. I was very polite, not wanting to add tension to the discussion (or get arrested). He told me that he couldn't tell me anything about the specific incident, which I can understand.
I asked him, generally, what the rules are when determining if probable cause for a vehicle search exists. "Can you just decide on the spot that cause exists to search a vehicle?" I asked. "Pretty much," he replied. Patrick suggested that I could ask the Latino man for specific details if I wanted to. I decided that I would do just that, and thanked the officer for his time.
I caught up with the Hispanic man in front of the store and asked him, "Would you mind if I asked you why they searched your car?" As we entered the store, he told me he had no idea why he had been searched and interrogated. He had purchased a calculator (or a similar electronic device) in Walmart and was waiting for his brother in his car in the parking lot. He said he was only fidgeting in the parking lot with the items he purchased, but the police must have thought he was "drunk or on drugs or something."
While talking with the gentleman, I could tell he was bright, coherent, and affable. He did not act impaired in any way, and I did not smell any scent of alcohol. He was just a regular, nice guy. He could have been one of my friends. He was obviously a bit shaken up by the matter, but he remained easy-going and cool-headed.
So why was he singled out for a police search and interrogation? It seems clear the only reason is that he was a Latino man with long hair in a Transam.
Do you think the police would have searched, frisked, and interrogated a white man waiting in his car in the parking lot?
I'm not suggesting that the police officers displayed intentional racism. Rather, I believe they were only taking advantage of the fact that Latinos are less able on average to demand their legal rights. Plus, the police were quick to validate the legality of the man's stay in the United States -- only Latinos are singled out for such suspicion.
One possible cause of concern is that Patrick also wore a badge that indicated he is a "field trainer." Was this search, frisk, and interrogation part of his field training? I don't know, but I certainly hope not. If it was, the "lesson" might be construed as, "Today, we're going to learn how to violate the civil liberties of immigrants."
I want to make clear that I was merely a casual observer in this matter. There may be some strange fact I don't know that might affect the proper evaluation of the case. But I don't think so. After talking with the officers and with the victim, the incident seems to have been fairly straight-forward. The police thought a man waiting in his car looked suspicious, so they searched, frisked, and interrogated him. I am quick to add, however, that a full review of the matter would need to research possible additional facts.
As a citizen, though, I have every reason to question this seeming violation of privacy by the Westminster police.
Addendum: After reading this article, David Bryant offered some great advice: "Next time you see a police officer harassing someone and the officer asks you if you know the person, consider saying, 'Not yet. But I'm thinking about becoming his attorney!'"
How to Wage Political Warfare
by Richard Lamping, March 1999
As a political consultant, I have been on the front lines of political battles in Arizona and Colorado, two of the most active Libertarian states. In that time I've learned a few lessons about how the principles of war can be applied to the pursuit of peace in the political arena.
The lessons of war and politics are well documented. From the past we must learn to change the future. We must learn to challenge the existing paradigm of politics that keeps giving us the worst form of leadership at the time we need the best. The world is changing quickly, and current leadership is helpless to deal with it. If only they understood that the only truly empathetic and kind position is a Libertarian one.
It is time to take the lessons of war and apply them to peace. Libertarians are the only political activists who can rightly claim a consistent and peaceful message. But in politics, a field of battle littered with bad concepts, Libertarian sentiments are stolen to pad the speeches of George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. Our ideas of peace and freedom are twisted to fit their violent ends.
The best, uniquely Libertarian ideas are distorted to fit a model of society that is a proven failure. Bush and Clinton are recent examples. For his victory speech as Governor of Texas in November 1998, Bush wove muddled individualistic sentiments into his Statist ideas. Clinton appealed to privacy in the Monica Lewinsky turmoil -- at the same time he was requesting and authorizing over 100,000 more phone taps a year and Steve Kubby's bedroom was being videotaped.
As peaceful people, many Libertarians feel deep fear in the political arena, and many of us have good reason to feel it. The overreaching arm of our invasive government has been well documented, and nobody wants to be the next victim of the out-of-control actions and policies of Democratic and Republican politicians who are committed to welfare statism, the drug war or the IRS.
"We will always need the IRS, because there will always be people who try to cheat the system." -- Scott McInnis, (R) US Congressman, Colorado District 3
"I want to build prisons from Fruita (Colorado) to the Kansas line."-- Scott McInnis, (R) US Congressman, Colorado District 3
These are two of the frightening quotes from the last race I worked on (for more on the race, see http://www.BarryMaggert.org, and they show how our opponent is bent on controlling the actions of the individual. Politicians like McInnis do not value the individual who goes about making choices in life. They value only the power to control and manipulate society.
These violent sentiments represent the failure and fear of McInnis and his peers on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. Politicians such as McInnis are actively feeding the fear of our culture because they themselves feel deep fear. Their desire to control and take is rooted in the terror that they will be viewed as soft or vulnerable. It is rooted in the fear that they might lose control, lose power, lose an election.
Our leaders are afraid because they know they're destined to lose. They know that you and I, the Libertarians, are coming. It is time for us to aggress in the political milieu. It is time for us to begin to understand our fear, and challenge ourselves to overcome it.
Passion overcomes impotence. Morale overcomes numeric advantages. We must take our ideas and champion them. Talent, understanding, intelligence -- these are the hallmarks of the Libertarian movement. Impotence and fear are for the other guy.
"War is not at all such a difficult art as people think. . . In reality it would seem that he is vanquished who is afraid of his adversary and that the whole secret of war is this." -- Napoleon, 1807
"One of the greatest qualities which we have is the ability to produce in our enemy the fear of the unknown. Therefore, we must always keep moving, do not sit down, do not say 'I have done enough,' keep on, see what else you can do to raise the devil with the enemy. . ." -- General George S. Patton, Jr., 1941
Richard Lamping is a Libertarian Political Consultant living in rural Colorado with his wife and two children. He can be reached at [omitted].
Editor's Note: I invited Congressman McInnis to reply, but his office declined.
The Colorado Freedom Report is not affiliated with the Libertarian Party, though it reports on the Libertarian Party and prints editorials from its members.