Monitor Thy Neighbor (Commentary by Congressman Ron Paul)

Ron Paul via MEW ^ | 07.23.02 | Ron Paul

[Registered]

Monitor Thy Neighbor

Publisher: Middle East News Press Release Network

By: Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

Posted: 2002-07-23

Opposition to the Patriot Act, legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President last year, is growing. Americans are beginning to understand that many precious liberties have been put in jeopardy by the government's rush to enact new laws in the wake of September 11th. Federal law enforcement agencies now have broad authority to conduct secret, warrantless searches of homes; monitor phone and internet activity; access financial records; and undertake large-scale tracking of American citizens through huge databases. We're told this is necessary to fight the unending war on terror, but in truth the federal government has been seeking these powers for years. September 11th simply provided an excuse to accelerate the process and convince all of us to relinquish more and more of our privacy to the federal government.

Now the Justice department wants to extend the new investigative powers to private citizens. It recently unveiled Operation TIPS – Terrorism Information and Prevention System – as part of President Bush's Citizen Corps initiative. The goal is to enlist thousands or even millions of Americans to act as spies for the government, reporting suspicious activity to officials using a handy toll-free hotline. The Justice department especially hopes to enlist mailmen, delivery drivers, plumbers, gas-meter readers, and the like, as they have access to private homes and businesses in their daily work. As usual, the war on terror is offered as justification for this proposal.

This almost might be funny if it were not real. Imagine the rampant abuses possible with a national spy program. Busybodies across the country will clamor to join the effort and act as self-appointed neighborhood vigilantes. Unscrupulous individuals of every stripe will abuse the program by snitching on ex-spouses, personal enemies, and racial groups they don't like. Bickering neighbors will enjoy calling in to report unkempt lawns and barking dogs as sure signs of nefarious activity. I certainly hope the Justice department employs some very patient people to field the flood of useless calls.

If a government-sponsored snitch program sounds pretty bad to you, you're not alone. Some commentators draw parallels between Operation TIPS and the citizen informants of the former East German Stasi secret police. Of course, suggesting the obvious – that citizen spy programs are incompatible with a free society – invites denunciations and sharp reminders that "we're at war." Remember, however, that wars have been used throughout modern history to justify rapid expansion of state power at the expense of personal liberty. We cannot remain free if we allow the endless, undeclared war on terror to serve as an excuse for giving up every last vestige of our privacy.

I applaud Congressman Dick Armey for adding a provision to the homeland security bill that would prohibit the Justice department from implementing the TIPS program. His opposition brings needed public attention to this terrible idea. But even if Congress supports him, there is no guarantee another informant proposal will not surface soon thereafter. Congressional oversight of administrative agencies (consider the Treasury department and its renegade IRS) is nonexistent. The Justice department almost certainly will seek another way to implement the program, with or without congressional approval.

Ultimately, we have to ask ourselves what kind of society we hope to leave our children and grandchildren. A civilized and free society would not be discussing, much less seriously debating, any proposal to enlist private citizens to act as federal neighborhood snitches.


Ron Paul, M.D., represents the 14th Congressional District of Texas in the United States House of Representatives.

[Reagan Man]

My comments about Ron Paul are right on the money. Paul and his agenda are in complete lockstep and that starts with a strong anti-government stance. As I said, Ron Paul may be the hero to many of the misfits, malcontents and militants that dwell here on FR, but in the real world he's a totally insignificant political player. As a Libertarian, Paul can't win an election, so he deceives his constituency and poses as a Republican in order to get elected. If you ask me, there's a bunch of dummies down in the 14th Texas district. OTOH, you're a pathetic creature, incapable of intelligent public discourse and void of political common sense.

[headsonpikes]

"Get on a thread where you have something to add..."

There's not a lot of threads on 'The psycho-social fantasies of government file clerks'.

[tpaine]

I hope the Democratic National Comittie is paying you well to play this little character they have created and written for you to preform under the name "Reagan Man".
A litte too obvious.

---

Naaaa, he ain't DNC, or even DU.

--- He's just one of the old loony AFholers, back with the same old hate FR agenda.

[Jhoffa_]

My comments about Ron Paul are right on the money. Paul and his agenda are in complete lockstep and that starts with a strong anti-government stance.

Good.. I think that's a good thing.

I think talk about a military police force and government sponsored citizen snoops merits a little concern.

Think about what can happen with this over time..

This stuff is dangerous, there's another thread about how your shopping habbits might wind up getting you labled as a "terrorist"

You aren't concerned about any potential for our nation becoming a police state if things like this are allowed to run unchecked?

[headsonpikes]

Thank you for your thoughtful, intelligent, and generous insights.

I'm sure your family loves you.

[Reagan Man]

You're a first class paranoid, with a chicken little mentality. Keep preaching your "sky is falling" rhetoric. It's always good for a laugh.

[tpaine]

You aren't concerned about any potential for our nation becoming a police state if things like this are allowed to run unchecked?

---

Concerned? -- He runs about FR actively advocating that our nation become a police state.

[Alan Chapman]

My comments about Ron Paul are right on the money.

Personal attacks are spam and they waste everyones' time. Personal attacks are a good indicator that you've lost the argument or that you have nothing better to offer.

Paul and his agenda are in complete lockstep and that starts with a strong anti-government stance.

Disagreement with Reagan Man doesn't equate to being anti-government. It just equates to disagreement about the what the legitimate functions of government should be. If you believe the fedgov should manage every detail of people's lives then explain why it should. Don't call people names for disagreeing with you.

As a Libertarian, Paul can't win an election, so he deceives his constituency and poses as a Republican in order to get elected.

I'd be more concerned about the socialists who pose as Republicans to get elected. They're real easy to spot. They campaign like Libertarians but then they vote like Democrats after they get elected.

...you're a pathetic creature, incapable of intelligent public discourse and void of political common sense.

I remember the time you challenged me to offer solutions to the problems facing America. You demanded solutions, only you refused to tell me what you perceived to be the problems. When I asked you to list the perceived problems you accused me of deconstructing your argument.

[Reagan Man]

>>>Thank you for your thoughtful, intelligent, and generous insights.

LMFBO! Compared to what you've called me in the past, my rhetoric to you, is mild by comparison. Soak it up. This is my first reply to you in quite some time and probably my last. You really aren't worth the effort. Stick with debating twelve year olds, debating adults isn't for you.

[Alan Chapman]

RE: 60

passed=past

[Jhoffa_]

Keep preaching your "sky is falling" rhetoric. It's always good for a laugh.

Okay, well I am glad you are being entertained.

But I am going to point out that the "paranoid", "chicken little's" on my side of the isle aren't the ones who require a military police force or government snitches to make us feel "safe" from Osama.

While those on your side of the isle are begging fedgov to protect you at any cost. No price is too high for the "sky is falling" crowd you run with.

I really don't want to fight with you about this, I would just like you to give your position some serious thought.

What if it were Bill or Hillary proposing these things? What if they inheret them when Dubya is no longer President?

Remember, every new government toy Dubya creates today will be in someone elses hands tomorrow.

[headsonpikes]

I sincerely hope his family loves him.

[Jhoffa_]

I know, and he isn't alone..

But this stuff scares me and it scares enough people that it's impossible for me to believe we are all just paranoid, psycho nutcases of some kind.

These proposals and others like them are a big deal from where I sit. When you toss in the potential for abuse and the ever present expansion factor, I can't help but be concerned, I think everyone should.

[varina davis]

<< STANDING APPLAUSE >> Thanks for posting this.

DITTO!

[headsonpikes]

"Stick with debating twelve year olds..."

Let me assure you, most twelve year olds are as sophisticated as your ownself, without the bilious attitudes fostered by a soul-deadening gubmint job and an apparent absence of friends.

You may be an adult, but you are as immature as I have seen on this site.

Okay, you're not as immature as MommasGoodBoy, but he's only eleven.

[Reagan Man]

I see you're still a fringe extremist and an incomparable liar too. Thought JimRob would have disposed of you long ago. He continues to tolerate you and the other losers on FR very well. I would have banned your stinking butt long ago. Besides, no one would have missed you.

[headsonpikes]

Actually, he may be a Labrador retriever, so I'm going to come flat out and declare that you are the most intellectually immature poster on this site.

I didn't say the dimmest, or the meanest, just the most immature.

I'll stand by that judgment.

[Jhoffa_]

You know, further I think this concern should cross all political and party lines..

I am just amazed that it doesn't. There are some people who equate the merits of a proposal with the person who proposed it. They make a direct connection here.

"If X said then it's automatically good." "If Y says the same thing then it's automatically bad"

The logic here is baffling to me..

[headsonpikes]

Quid erat demonstrandum.