The BSA/AML burden was the straw that
broke the camel's back for me. Those regulations, along with
others, have caused me to decide to take early retirement from
banking. I have agreed to stay for awhile longer to train
replacements for my duties but will be retiring about 3 years
before I otherwise would have.
The recent complexities, added to
banking's already burdensome regulations, are creating tensions
among our employees, between compliance officers and employees,
and between regulators and bank employees. I have not seen
anything like it in all my years of banking. The regulations are
now so complex and numerous that we cannot get the same story from
the various agencies, from one regulatory person to another, or
even from the same person from day to day. The exact details of
what we must do is in a constant state of flux, a pot constantly
stirred up by politicians and bureaucrats.
Even though the countless regulations
place great strains on our workforce, my primary reason for
leaving is philosophical. Many of our banking laws (and other
laws also) conflict with the principles of liberty and the
Constitution. The reasons used by our judges in upholding these
laws would get many of them a failing grade in a college course in
Logic. That aside, Congress has passed these law which I don't
believe reflects well on its member's understanding of the
principles of liberty. I simply can no longer tolerate
participating in the enforcement of laws I feel violate my
liberties.
Congress has turned banks into an
instrument of its growing authoritarianism. As one example,
Congress now defines certain profession and activities as "high
risk" without those individuals being charged or convicted on
anything. These include lawyers, car dealerships, auctioneers,
accountants, and businesses that cash payrollchecks for
customers. We are required to monitor their accounts and report
anything suspicious to the federal government (no search warrant
required). I have been a long-time student of liberty and have
always considered spying, snitching, and the use of informants to
monitor innocent citizens to be characteristic of Nazis,
communists, and other types of tyrannical governments. Fifteen
years ago I would have never believed that my own government would
be requiring me to do the same thing to my neighbors and friends.
I experience a great deal of guilt in performing these duties in
addition to feeling like a traitor to the principles of liberty.
I fear what is happening to our
country. We are sacrificing our liberties left and right for
"security." Congress says that these laws are to protect us from
terrorists (There are always "justifications" for sacrificing our
liberties.). With all the intrusive legislation that has been
passed over the last 70 years and statements from government
officials like that of Gen. Patrick M. Hughes ("We have to abridge
individual rights; change the societal conditions, and act in ways
that heretofore were not in accordance with our values and
traditions..."), I now fear our federal government far more than I
do any terrorist.
Regarding terrorism, I think we need a
truly independent study of our federal government's activities
relative to foreign countries and peoples to really understand
what is happening in the world. Yes, there are terrorists, but
terrorists do not exist without reason. No one becomes a
terrorist for simply ideological reaons. Something is causing the
tension that creates terrorism and I suspect a primary culprit is
our federal government, and more specifically, the state
department. Considering the arrogance with which our federal
government deals with its own citizens, I cannot imagine how it
deals with foreign peoples where it does not have suspicious
citizens looking over its shoulder.
To paraphrase Walter Williams,
although we are not now a tyrannical societ6y, there can be no
doubt about which direction we are headed a step at a time with
each new piece of legislation. Each new law strips away something
we could have decided for ourselves, a little piece of our
liberty.
A very concerned citizen,
John A. Berkley
President
The Stockton National Bank
Stockton, Kansas 67669