Here’s an interesting link, Federal Appeals Court: Driving With Money is a Crime, that ought to get the attention of every person who uses an atm.  I am not saying I know exactly what was going on in this situation, but I do know:

• Our laws hold that a person is innocent until proven guilty.  This is fundamental to the rule of law, and is compromised only at great risk.
• Money is often tainted with drug residue, and notoriously ‘unclean’; it is concievable that you and I could have money that would attract the bark of a drug dog.
• There is an inherent flaw in the system if the same organization which confiscates the cash will be keeping it, and is not required to prove guilt in order to do so.
• If carrying cash (our legal tender) has become suspect to the degree that using it to pay bills (such as rent) or make purchases will arouse suspicion or result  in confiscation, that cash is no longer worth much, is it? 

A case in point: When we moved to North Carolina we rented an apartment while our house was being built.  The rent was due the first of the month, and considered late on the 5th, at which time the office policy was that they would no longer accept a personal check. 

This presented no great problem for us, as we paid on time, until January rent came due.  Because of a change to our monthly fee and calculation errors on the part of the office (some months they had under or over-charged us for the garage units), we didn’t know how much was due.  The office was closed until Jan. 4th.  I went in the next day, on the fifth, and was told that while they could tell me what was due, I was not allowed to pay it with a personal check.  I would have to get a cashiers check.

I hadn’t yet set up an account with a local bank, so I didn’t have easy access to a cashiers check.  More to the point, I saw no reason for their choosiness.  I told them they could accept my cash, which is legal tender, or they could accept my personal check.  They promptly stuck their noses in the air and said they could and would refuse cash payment.

Of course that is nonsense, put perhaps they were doing me a favor.  If I had tried to pay in cash, I would have no doubt been guilty of a drug crime, simply by the fact that I had a large sum of cash on me.

At any rate, with a fine-tooth reading of our rental contract and a few choice words exchanged they accepted the personal check.  But the point remains.  What good is legal tender that can’t be used for the major neccessities and emergencies of life?   

    

 

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