sspadowsky
Aug 27th, 2003, 10:27 AM
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101%7E6267%7E1584965,00.html
Heeeere's Johnny
Attorney General John Ashcroft's taxpayer-funded 18-city barnstorming tour to preach the virtues of the Patriot Act to choirs of law enforcement officials is a tacit admission that the law is in trouble. Newsweek reports that preparations include "ensuring that uniformed cops are seated in bleachers behind the AG during his visits." It's hard to read this with a straight face. What person worried about G-men monitoring their library use is going to be reassured by the sight of John Ashcroft in front of a phalanx of grim-faced policemen?
It appears increasingly obvious that Mr. Ashcroft and the Bush administration are really not going to get away with the Patriot Act, enacted in a panic after the 9/11 attacks to give law enforcement officials unprecedented new powers to monitor suspected terrorists. Three states and 150 local governments have passed resolutions condemning the act for infringing on the Bill of Rights; some go so far as to forbid state and local law enforcement from cooperating with the feds when they invoke its extraordinary powers. Even the U.S. House has voted, 303 to 118, with 113 Republicans joining in, to restrain the Justice Department from using the "sneak and peek" provision of the law that allows secret searches of homes and businesses.
When the American Civil Liberties Union files a lawsuit to have the Patriot Act declared unconstitutional, and it is supported by anti-abortion groups worried that abortion protesters could be targeted as "domestic terrorists," it is not business as usual in Washington. With both left and right quoting Benjamin Franklin's dictum: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety," the administration is clearly worried about the electoral consequences. But it doesn't want to give up its enhanced police powers, it wants to expand them with the Victory (Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations) Act. Hence the national dog and pony show.
Our nation must be safe and secure, but at what price? The Bill of Rights was written by men who had direct experience of tyrants and their techniques of repression, and in 214 years it has produced the freest society in the history of mankind, one that defends the rights of the accused, tries to prevent the imprisonment of innocent persons, forbids torture and cruel and unusual punishment and affords its citizens freedoms of thought, inquiry, association and commercial activity that are the model of the civilized world. Sometimes we fall short in extending these freedoms to all citizens. Sometimes, as during the Red Scares of the 1920s and after the shock of 9/11, we fail to strike a balance between defending our shores and preserving our freedoms. But with time and the open debate that define our democracy, we correct our errors.
Heeeere's Johnny
Attorney General John Ashcroft's taxpayer-funded 18-city barnstorming tour to preach the virtues of the Patriot Act to choirs of law enforcement officials is a tacit admission that the law is in trouble. Newsweek reports that preparations include "ensuring that uniformed cops are seated in bleachers behind the AG during his visits." It's hard to read this with a straight face. What person worried about G-men monitoring their library use is going to be reassured by the sight of John Ashcroft in front of a phalanx of grim-faced policemen?
It appears increasingly obvious that Mr. Ashcroft and the Bush administration are really not going to get away with the Patriot Act, enacted in a panic after the 9/11 attacks to give law enforcement officials unprecedented new powers to monitor suspected terrorists. Three states and 150 local governments have passed resolutions condemning the act for infringing on the Bill of Rights; some go so far as to forbid state and local law enforcement from cooperating with the feds when they invoke its extraordinary powers. Even the U.S. House has voted, 303 to 118, with 113 Republicans joining in, to restrain the Justice Department from using the "sneak and peek" provision of the law that allows secret searches of homes and businesses.
When the American Civil Liberties Union files a lawsuit to have the Patriot Act declared unconstitutional, and it is supported by anti-abortion groups worried that abortion protesters could be targeted as "domestic terrorists," it is not business as usual in Washington. With both left and right quoting Benjamin Franklin's dictum: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety," the administration is clearly worried about the electoral consequences. But it doesn't want to give up its enhanced police powers, it wants to expand them with the Victory (Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations) Act. Hence the national dog and pony show.
Our nation must be safe and secure, but at what price? The Bill of Rights was written by men who had direct experience of tyrants and their techniques of repression, and in 214 years it has produced the freest society in the history of mankind, one that defends the rights of the accused, tries to prevent the imprisonment of innocent persons, forbids torture and cruel and unusual punishment and affords its citizens freedoms of thought, inquiry, association and commercial activity that are the model of the civilized world. Sometimes we fall short in extending these freedoms to all citizens. Sometimes, as during the Red Scares of the 1920s and after the shock of 9/11, we fail to strike a balance between defending our shores and preserving our freedoms. But with time and the open debate that define our democracy, we correct our errors.