John Whitehead believes our government is becoming a police state and makes a convincing case in his book, A Government of Wolves. In a recent column he asks a series of questions. These are questions I think we should ask our elected officials and other candidates during this election year.

Why has there been a buildup of SWAT teams with non-security related federal agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Office of Personnel Management?

Why have government agencies been stockpiling hollow point bullets? For example, why does the Department of Agriculture need .40 caliber semiautomatic machine guns and 320,000 rounds of hollow point bullets?

Why does the Postal Service need “assorted small arms ammunition”? Why did the Department of Homeland Security purchase 1.6 billion rounds of hollow-point ammunition, along with 7,000 fully-automatic NATO personal defense weapons plus a stash of 30-round high-capacity magazines”?

Why has the federal government been distributing many of these resources to police departments around the country? The Department of Homeland Security acquired more than 2,500 Mine-Resistant Armored Protection vehicles and then distributed them to local police departments. Thousands of military weapons, such as M-16 rifles and grenade launchers, are now in the hands of local police.

Why is FEMA stockpiling massive quantities of emergency supplies? This year FEMA made a statement enlisting the service of contractors who could “supply medical biohazard disposal capabilities.” There were other requests for massive amounts of supplies ranging from 31 million flu vaccinations to 100,000 each of winter shirts and pants and the same for summer.

It is reasonable to ask what is all of this equipment for? What is the government preparing for? These are good questions to ask during this election season.