With the election campaign in full swing in the Netherlands, the Christian Democrats have come up with the idea of extending the random searches that are now conducted in towns. The idea is that by randomly stopping and searching large numbers of people (including the cordoning off of areas of town) crime will be reduced. The first such searches have resulted in several arrests with the confiscation of guns and knives. There is no indication that this actually will reduce crime, but the measures are depressingly popular. Anybody can be searched; there's no need for probable cause or anything like that. There's no Fourth Amendment in the Netherlands. An "unreasonable search" is a search that the police decide is unreasonable.

So the Christian Democrats have come up with the idea of extending these searches to trains and highways too. The police would have the authority stop cars at random and search them for drugs and weapons. The first target area would be the Amsterdam beltway, the A 10, which has recently been the subject of other idiotic proposals, such as the ring-fencing of Amsterdam.

In the words the second-in-command at the Christian Democrats, "[this] is necessary for a safer society, for the protection of citizens." But if you're not creeped out about that, he added that the erosion of citizens' privacy is not an impediment. "The protection of society is more important than the privacy of the individual." That's a pretty scary sentiment to be coming from a prominent politician of a middle-of-the-road political party. One that is going to win the largest number of votes in the upcoming election no less. He's already received support from the Labour politician Van Heemst, who basically said "we thought of it first!"

It must be one of the sophisticated European things I don't understand. I guess I'm too simple with my cowboyish unilaterist insistence on privacy and such. With such widespread support, the practice of random searches is going to expand. Bear that in mind next time you travel to Europe. Or better yet, bear that in mind next time you hear the American Left glorifying life in Europe.