Posted on 02/06/2002 5:05:45 AM PST by francisandbeans
When Attorney General John Ashcroft told the nation, "To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists," he wasn't blazing any new trails. He was merely doing what despots and would-be despots always do: attempting to intimidate into silence those who dare to question him.
Ashcroft's statement is one of the most astounding things to be said by a U.S. official in many years. To read it carefully letting its full message sink in is to be overtaken by a sense of horror that is otherwise hard to imagine. Every American should be offended to hear the government's chief law enforcement officer equate public expressions of concern about the threats to liberty from drastic "anti-terrorism" measures with joining al-Qaeda. Does Ashcroft have such a low estimate of the American people's intelligence?
Perhaps he needs to become acquainted with Thomas Jefferson. It was Jefferson who said, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." That's true in the best of times. It's doubly true during war especially an Orwellian undeclared, open-ended crusade against an enemy as nebulous as "international terrorism." Ashcroft is a perfect Orwellian character. In 1984, Big Brother told his people that "freedom is slavery." It follows that slavery is freedom. Ashcroft refuses to concede that the Bush administration is seeking to curtail liberty in the least. Those who see diminished liberty must be hallucinating, seeing "phantoms of lost liberty."
So when the president unilaterally abolishes due process for noncitizens, we are only imaging an erosion of liberty. And when Congress passes, without even reading, the administration's alleged anti-terrorism bill, which expands the government's powers of surveillance, permits secret searches of homes, and weakens judicial oversight of law enforcement, again, we are deluded if we think freedom is evaporating. I write "alleged anti-terrorism bill" because the new law does not restrict the expanded powers to suspected terrorists, but applies them to any criminal activity. This is a classic power grab under the cover of an emergency. September 11 has given policymakers a chance to bring down from the shelf every new police power they have wanted for years. They assume no one will question the need for such broad powers, and if anyone does, they can shut him up by portraying him as an ally of the terrorists. The game is rigged in favor of power.
It is no comfort that the erosion of liberty in the name of fighting terrorism has a bipartisan cast to it. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York has given his blessing to oppressive government with an op-ed in the Washington Post titled "Big Government Looks Better Now." As Schumer puts it, barely concealing his glee, "For the foreseeable future, the federal government will have to grow... The era of a shrinking federal government has come to a close." Of course, the senator was trying to enlarge it long before September 11.
Schumer insists that only the federal government "has the breadth, strength and resources" to keep us secure. Forgive me for asking, but did we not have a federal government on September 11? Was it not in charge of our security on that date? Then what is the senator talking about? And if it isn't impolite to ask, just where does the federal government get all those resources? Last time I checked, it didn't produce anything. It simply took resources from the people who did produce them.
Once we understand that all government possesses is the power of legal plunder our whole perspective changes. Schumer insists that "the notion of letting a thousand different ideas compete and flourish which works so well to create goods and services does not work at all in the face of a national security emergency. Unity of action and purpose is required, and only the federal government can provide it." But hes got it wrong. Security is a service. Competition and innovation are valuable in the effort to keep ourselves safe. The last thing we need is central planning. Thats what we had on September 11.
Jefferson was correct. So is this author. Nice article and thanks for posting it you terrorist sympathizer you.
Regards
J.R.
Really, it looks like the ACLU idiot is the one who originally posted this thread.
There's no need to embarrass our leaders by pointing out the flaws in our society that they're aware of and dealing with in their own way. Some people just enjoy finding fault with our leaders! They're anarchists, they're trouble makers or they're simply just unpatriotic. None of which describes you. Now, do you want people thinking otherwise? These are the areas that I want to help you with. I want to feel like I'm needed. That I'm doing my part to help bring the EarthGov back into the hands of the decent, hard-working people that created it. I am here to protect you.
--Julie Musante (Babylon 5, "Voices of Authority")
I am sorry if that post made no sense to you, but I will allow you more time to think about it.
Youre killing me Dane.
When you gonna perfom at Zanies?
I don't know what you're on my case today, but it's VERY unattractive. Keep it up.
Sorry I don't perform open mike nights at piddly comedy clubs like you do.
You can have the whole Zanies stage to yourself.
Would anybody like to guess how many times Dane has made this exact statement on FR?
Dane I have never seen a brain more fried from drugs then yours.
Just like with Jefferson's words regarding the 'natural progress of things' to less liberty and more government, I don't make 'leaps of faith' on a few words taken in the context of an 'AGENDA', i.e., the false promotion of 'separation of church and state' based on a Jefferson letter answering a 'specific' question.
After all, Marx said, 'religion is the opiate of the masses'. (If 'ritalin' is good to settle the kids down; then, religion ought to be good for keeping order amongst the people.)
Of course, religion is not a good thing to those who are hoping to stir up a 'great change' in government.
Look beyond the 'words of men' to the 'hearts of men', francisandbeans. I would 'choose' 1 Ashcroft over 10 Renos every day of the week, not because we agree, but because his 'walk' matches his 'talk'.
And judging from your remarks to me, I can see why you need to come online; I don't imagine living with you is all that much fun.
We aren't at "WAR" with anybody and the only thing the government is doing is creating the illusion of safety
Tell it to the people at WTC.
Very attractive, but excuse me if I don't play your pathetic little game.
He has covered it up with $8000 blue curtains.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.