A Christmas gift from the state: Ritual humiliation

Officer Alexander is one of the many policemen around the country who, having decided that the daily ritual humiliations Americans endure at the hands of their government (at the airport, at the motor-vehicles office, getting a passport renewed) should be even more extensive — and, by God, jollier! — are going around conducting illegal police stops as part of a Christmas-themed public-relations campaign. Our friends at Reason have been following these shenanigans for a while, and they are widespread, perpetrated by police from Louisiana to Pennsylvania to Oklahoma.

What happens is this: Police cruisers pull up behind some unsuspecting citizen who is minding his own business and following the law. The police put on their flashing lights and pull over the unsuspecting citizen who is minding his own business and following the law. Then, they videotape the subsequent encounter between the police and the unsuspecting citizen who is minding his own business and following the law, who breathes a sigh of relief when police say: “Congratulations! You weren’t doing anything wrong! Merry Christmas!” And then sometimes the police give that unsuspecting citizen who is minding his own business and following the law a Red Lobster gift certificate.

Some of these videos are hilarious. But do you know why they are hilarious? Because that unsuspecting citizen who is minding his own business and following the law is terrified.