Over
the past 28 years of walking this planet, my politics have been characterized
almost entirely by well-practiced apathy. Probably because politics
is -- generally speaking -- about as exciting as watching a dog turd
decompose, but also because my family never rammed their politics
down my throat as a child (thanks mom, thanks dad). Also, I spent
most of my formative years in Reagan's 80's, where the government
was a grandfatherly old man with a steady voice and a love of jellybeans.
Likeable and so, so distant that you couldn't decide whether to not
believe all the nasty stuff that was supposedly going on behind the
scenes of that administration, or to just not care.
Now, whether it's because I exist within spitting distance of D.C.,
or because all of us are living out that old Chinese curse about living
in interesting times, I'm starting to become very interested
in politics. Though maybe "interested in" isn't what I mean
to say; maybe what I really mean is "concerned with".
Shortly after the WTC, the Pentagon, and an empty field in Pennsylvania
caught those passenger planes back in September of 2001, the US government
rushed out something they called the USA PATRIOT Act (more
specifically, the "Uniting and Strengthening America
by Providing Appropriate Tools Required
to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" Act
of 2001... no, I'm not making this up). The Act expanded the federal
government's powers in regards to taking down terrorists both domestic
and foreign, providing an expanded definition of "terrorist"
while it was at it. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. And it
probably was. Probably, all the civil rights abuses that have stemmed
from the Act ('suspected terrorists' vanishing into camps at Guantanamo
Bay without due process or explanation, for example) are outweighed
by the bad guys the Act has allowed us to catch. The public is never
likely to know one way or the other though, because the present administration
keeps plugging their ears and shouting "Lalalalala, I can't hear
you!" whenever anyone -- including Congress -- asks what they
and the Office of Homeland Security are doing with the powers granted
them by the Act.
Still with me? Have we entered decomposing-dog-turd territory yet?
Hang in there, because this is where it gets juicy.
Back in February, a draft legislative proposal was leaked from the
Justice Department. This proposal, called the Domestic Security Enhancement
Act of 2003, but more memorably dubbed "Patriot Act II"
by the media, further expands on the powers granted in its predecessor.
Forget that only a week earlier Justice had been denying that any
such proposal was in the works. Forget that the first Patriot Act
was only supposed to be a temporary response to an extreme situation
in our country, one that would go away once said situation was resolved.
Forget all of that. Because the thing that has my panties in a bunch,
the thing that makes me understand what it was like for people living
back in the McCarthy and Nixon eras, is the fact that JD wants to
give Homeland Security the power to strip Americans of their citizenship.
Citizenship is THE basic right of all Americans from which all the
others extend. The worst serial murderer on death row still retains
his citizenship. But if Homeland Security determines -- through processes
and investigations that they are in no way obligated to share with
anybody -- that you have provided "material support"
to a suspected terrorist group, they can put your buttocks on the
first plane out of the country, without even so much as a "See
ya."
Hypothetical situation:
Say
you've always had a soft spot for spotted owls. You know their habitats
are slowly being turned into heavy bond Xerox paper, and you want
to help out. So you write a fifty-dollar check to an environmental
agency called HOOTT (Helping Our Owls and Their Trees). HOOTT gladly
accepts your check and then spends the next three years filling your
mailbox with solicitations for even more money.
Then, one fine day in August, HOOTT puts on a peaceful demonstration,
forming a human barricade between a forest full of spotted owls and
the lumbermen who are intent on tearing it up. The lumbermen work
on an hourly wage and are understandably upset about these hippie
treehuggers interfering with their livelihood. And so a riot breaks
out. During this riot, one of the lumbermen is accidentally killed.
The nation is outraged at those no-good radical environmentalists,
orphaning children and widowing wives for the sake of their stupid
owls, and so Homeland Security decides that HOOTT now qualifies as
a terrorist organization, despite the fact that no harm was intended.
After shipping a bunch of people who participated in the demonstration
off to Guantanamo, HS's accountants begin sifting through HOOTT's
numbers.
And find your name sitting right in the middle of a pile of past
contributions.
Next thing you know, you're not an American anymore. You gave up
the right to be one when you gave "material support" to
a terrorist organization, despite your ignorance that HOOTT would
ever be branded one, and despite the common sense conclusion that
they're not actually in the terror business. You're arrested, debriefed
on your role in HOOTT's anti-American schemes, and put on the next
plane to Canada. Hope you like the cold.
Farfetched? Yeah, probably. But this is the kind of power Patriot
Act II wants to give to Homeland Security. The power to (a) decide
for itself, with no outside input or oversight, what constitutes a
terrorist organization or a "lone wolf" terrorist, and (b)
revoke American citizenship over what they determine (see how they
get to make all the decisions?) is material support to said terrorists.
It doesn't matter whether they would ever actually do something so
extreme as the scenario above, only that they intend to give themselves
the power to do it. And to do it legally.
That's not even the worst part of this Patriot Act/Patriot Act II
business. The worst part came on April 9th, when The New York Times
reported that Utah Representative Orrin Hatch had authored a proposal
to make the original Patriot Act permanent. That is, this legislation,
intended to offer extreme powers to government agencies during a time
of extreme distress in our nation, may be made an everlasting part
of American law. Kinda like if New York City had instituted martial
law in the weeks following 9/11, and that martial law was still in
effect in 2010.
The Patriot Act originally had a "sunset" date of 2005,
because even at the peak of America's grief and outrage over 9/11
the legislature understood that these were extreme measures for extreme
times. I don't want to beat this next point into the ground, because
I think it's one of those comparisons that's too easy to make and
maybe gets thrown around so much that it doesn't make a dent in our
collective psyche anymore, but consider this...
Before World War II, Adolf Hitler instituted extreme legislation
to deal with Germany's floundering economy and social problems in
the wake of World War I. These were announced as temporary measures,
guidelines meant only to see them out of that troubled time. They
would be repealed when they were no longer needed. By the time the
Germans woke up to the fact that the temporary measures had become
the law of the land, they were knee-deep in a world war. I don't think
that could happen here. I think America is too loud and boisterous
and just generally unwieldy to let it happen. But I'll bet the Germans
thought it couldn't happen to them either.
To bring this down to my usual level for a moment, there's a line
in the Guns N' Roses song, "Civil War". It goes, "You
can't trust freedom when it's not in your hand." If even Axl
Rose can figure that out, it oughtta be obvious to the rest of us.
I'm not telling you to join a rally and storm the White House. I'm
not even telling you how to think on this Patriot Act business. I'm
just saying we've got to be aware of these things, or the bad guys
and the power mongers -- whoever they may be -- will get exactly what
they want.
Things are only going to get more "interesting" (thank
you China) from here on in. Don't let yourself be apathetic, and don't
just assume that none of this stuff could ever touch you. History
has shown us, that isn't the case at all.
- Russ, 5/16/03