Winning the Battle; Losing the War.
So the USA PATRIOT act was up again before the Senate, and they failed to end the stomping of American liberties.
I see so many parallels between the 'War On Terrorism' and the 'War On Drugs'. Not the least of which is the spurious definition of 'war'.
The most disturbing is the way a bogeyman is set up as a distraction from how the government is really rolling back our civil liberties to the days of English rule. Weather it is the specter of Junkies or Jihadists, those who protest the encroachment of their rights are cast as supporters of that nebulous enemy.
Another unsettling trend is the 'just trust us' attitude. There is always an undercurrent with these laws: Its OK if we lower the threshold on these 'constraints' as it will help us get junkies / jihadists, but you, John Q Public, have nothing to worry about. However the sheer amount of examples of abuse of Civil forfeiture laws should convince you otherwise. Even if an administration does not intend to abuse a law, once the option is out there, it is SO VERY hard to get those rights back. Even if you believe that the current folks in power are above reproach you should ask yourself: "Do I trust those who will follow for all time?"
A massive irony here is that often the people advocating this trust the government attitude are those who claim to believe in a smaller Government.... anyways.....
Lets not kid ourselves. The USA PATRIOT act, like the federalization of the 'War On Drugs' are examples of a Government careening out of control. No longer is there a need to serve a warrant for ANY potential crime. The Government doesn't even need a warrant for many searches - including wire taps and library records.
Is it at all possible that someone at Al Qaida knew how we (and in general the west) would react to these terrorist attacks? I don't know, but I wouldn't put it past the wiley bastards. Maybe they only had an inkling. Bin Laden claimed, when the towers fell that he never expected the damage to be so extensive. Perhaps he is watching the once strong tower of our liberty collapse under his onslaught, and thinking the very same thing.
So my question is - What do we do? I write my congress person regularly, but I'm in North Carolina, and ain't much gonna change their mind. Is there any hope, or is the American public gonna get what it is asking for?
I see so many parallels between the 'War On Terrorism' and the 'War On Drugs'. Not the least of which is the spurious definition of 'war'.
The most disturbing is the way a bogeyman is set up as a distraction from how the government is really rolling back our civil liberties to the days of English rule. Weather it is the specter of Junkies or Jihadists, those who protest the encroachment of their rights are cast as supporters of that nebulous enemy.
Another unsettling trend is the 'just trust us' attitude. There is always an undercurrent with these laws: Its OK if we lower the threshold on these 'constraints' as it will help us get junkies / jihadists, but you, John Q Public, have nothing to worry about. However the sheer amount of examples of abuse of Civil forfeiture laws should convince you otherwise. Even if an administration does not intend to abuse a law, once the option is out there, it is SO VERY hard to get those rights back. Even if you believe that the current folks in power are above reproach you should ask yourself: "Do I trust those who will follow for all time?"
A massive irony here is that often the people advocating this trust the government attitude are those who claim to believe in a smaller Government.... anyways.....
Lets not kid ourselves. The USA PATRIOT act, like the federalization of the 'War On Drugs' are examples of a Government careening out of control. No longer is there a need to serve a warrant for ANY potential crime. The Government doesn't even need a warrant for many searches - including wire taps and library records.
Is it at all possible that someone at Al Qaida knew how we (and in general the west) would react to these terrorist attacks? I don't know, but I wouldn't put it past the wiley bastards. Maybe they only had an inkling. Bin Laden claimed, when the towers fell that he never expected the damage to be so extensive. Perhaps he is watching the once strong tower of our liberty collapse under his onslaught, and thinking the very same thing.
So my question is - What do we do? I write my congress person regularly, but I'm in North Carolina, and ain't much gonna change their mind. Is there any hope, or is the American public gonna get what it is asking for?
posted by SoTired at 8/05/2005 07:22:00 AM
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