Illegal Tender

Did you know that it is considered an illegal act and you are presumptively deemed a criminal if you use too much cash, i.e., legal tender, to pay for something in the United States of America?

That’s right. You can be arrested and all your legal tender confiscated by the American Gestapo goon squad if you have too much cash in your pockets.

Did you know that if an American Gestapo goon squad police dog sniffs you and smells the slightest trace of any recreational drugs wafting into its snout from a $20 bill in your wallet, you are subject to arrest, incarceration and criminal charges even though you might be innocent of any crime or wrongdoing?

That’s right. If any amount of your honestly acquired legal tender alerts an American Gestapo dog to the possibility of some blow on the bills, however minute, you’re a presumed criminal; your cash will be confiscated and your sorry ass taken to jail.

Too much cash in your pocket is illegal in America.

Cash that doesn’t smell quite right is illegal in America.

Mr. Conor Guckian, American citizen, age 33, found that out the hard way in Nashville Tennessee this week after he paid $20,000 in cash to charter a private plane to California. That act alone rendered him a "suspicious individual" in the statist oriented minds of the Nashville airport police. They don’t believe that anyone should be allowed to pay for something with a large amount to legal tender. They think it’s illegal.

So the airport goons obliged Mr. Guckian to be sniffed by one of their Gestapo K-9 unit dogs. Sure enough, the beast “alerted to the smell of narcotics,” coming from within the criminal suspect’s suitcase. A search was conducted based upon their trumped up  “suspicion” and $153,000 was found. All the cash was confiscated; Guckian was arrested and charged with money laundering.

You see, if you have a large amount of cash in your pocket, that makes you guilty of money laundering. The hapless suspect told the goons that he paid for his charted plane with cash and was transporting the large sum in order to buy gold in California. He was chartering the plane because he thought it would be a safer way to transport his money.

He eventually consented to a second doggie search whereupon the goons claim that the pooch detected a narcotic odor on 32 bundles of bills secured with rubber bands inside his bag. "The manner in which the U.S. currency was wrapped is consistent with that of drug proceeds," explained the Gestapo goons.

Which is it? Is it money laundering or drug crimes?

Never-mind; Guckian remains in jail in lieu of a $10,000 bond. Of course the cops wouldn’t let him make bail with his own money. That wouldn’t be right. Whether he’s ever convicted of any crime or not, that cash – that perfectly legal tender – now belongs to the goons.

Now I don’t know if this guy is a criminal or not, and I don’t care. Neither money laundering nor drug dealing is a crime as far as I’m concerned because there are no victims, and if there is no victim that makes Mr. Guckian innocent.

I suspect that he’ll never be formally charged with any crime.

But sadly, he’ll be forced to say goodbye to his cash. He won’t be buying gold with it in California anytime soon.

What I do care about passionately is the fact that in the United States of America your hard earned legal tender can be summarily taken from you simply because you might be carrying “too much” of it in your pocket or suitcase or handbag.

The goons can steal it from you if they claim one of their Gestapo K-9’s sniffed drugs on it, and they can keep it for their own use and benefit even if you are never charged or convicted of any crime.

In the United States of America “too much” or “odoriferous” cash on your person is deemed: illegal tender.