Well, tomorrow, July the 4th is Independence Day for Americans; the day we commemorate the founding of this great country through the defeat of our former British overlords. As we enjoy hot dogs, apple pie, fireworks, parades and the company of friends and family I hope that we can all spare a thought for the state of the Republic as it exists today - and wonder after the future of this nation, the nation our children and grandchildren will inherit.
I recall that one of the reasons the colonists got all riled up was outrageous taxes, on tea and other goods. Yet tobacco is taxed to 700% or more. Usurious cigar taxes are funding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, when cigars have nothing whatsoever to do with children. Bills are being introduced to tax everything from tanning beds to soda pop, to fund programs that have nothing to do with these industries.
In many places,
you cannot film or photograph police officers, even on a public street or from your own property.The United States imprisons more people per capita than any country on earth, even China.
And you can't even hop a flight to someplace nice to get away from it all anymore. The TSA is keeping us all safe from terrorists by making
dying, 95 year old women remove their soiled adult diaper, insisting that disabled 4 year olds walk through a metal detector without their leg braces and without help from a parent, and
not only confiscating the Medal of Honor from an 86-year-old genuine hero of WWII - Joe Foss - because it "might be used as a weapon", but not even seeming to know what the hell a "Medal of Honor" is.While at the same time, a Nigerian can just hop onto a flight to LA with an expired boarding pass and fake ID, and not only isn't arrested but tries to do the exact same thing again.And what has become of our Bill of Rights, that unassailable jewel that defines the liberties we once held so dear?
1st AMENDMENT FREEDOM OF SPEECH• The Patriot Act broadly expands the official definition of terrorism, so that many domestic groups that engage in nonviolent civil disobedience could very well find themselves labeled as terrorists.
• The Government may now prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they reveal that the government requested information on their clients or members in the course of an investigation. It has become a crime for these individuals to try to safeguard your privacy or to tell you that you are under investigation.
1st AMENDMENT FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION• Government agents may now monitor the First Amendment protected activities of religious and political institutions, and then infiltrate these groups with no suspicion of criminal activity. This is a return to domestic spying on law-abiding religious and political groups.
• You may now be the subject of a government investigation simply because of the political, activist, or advocacy groups you are involved in, or the statements you make within these groups.
1st AMENDMENT RIGHT TO ACCESS GOVERNMENT INFORMATION• A U.S. Department of Justice directive actively encourages federal, state, and local officials to resist and/or limit access to government records through Freedom of Information Act(FOIA) requests.
• The Government has conducted immigration hearings in secret behind closed doors. Such proceedings were once open to the public. Hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrants have already been deported in secret.
4th AMENDMENT FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES & SEIZURES
• Law Enforcement authorities may now conduct secret searches and wiretaps in your home or office without showing “probable cause.” They need only to claim that intelligence gathering is “a significant purpose” of their intrusion, even when the primary goal is ordinary law enforcement. They may also monitor where and to whom you send and receive e-mail, or where you go on the Internet, recording every e-mail address and website you have been in contact with.
• Law Enforcement may now demand any personal records held by any source including your doctor,employer, accountant, or library. All they have to do is claim that it is related to an investigation into “terrorism.” The record keepers may not reveal that your records were provided to the government.
• Judicial oversight of secret searches has been effectively minimized. The Patriot Act directs judges to consent to secret searches based only on the Government’s assertion that a “significant” purpose of an investigation is gathering information related to “terrorism,” as the government defines it.
5th AMENDMENT RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS & FREEDOM FROM BEING HELD WITHOUT CHARGE• Americans can now be jailed without a formal charge & without the right to confront the witnesses or evidence against them. American citizens are now being held in military jails without charge and without a clear path of appeal for their indefinite confinement.
• Hundreds of Arab, Muslim and South Asian men were rounded up in the Ashcroft raids following September 11, and held for weeks without charges until all were cleared of terrorism charges.
6th AMENDMENT RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION• Hundreds of U.S. residents have been detained for months at a time, and denied access to the advice and advocacy of an attorney. The Government may now monitor conversations between attorneys & clients in federal prisons.
• The Bush Administration filed papers in court that arguing that an American citizen held in a military jail without charge should be denied access to legal counsel because such access would interfere with the process of his interrogation.
6th AMENDMENT RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL• The U.S. Government may now jail its residents and citizens indefinitely without charge & without a public trial.
8th AMENDMENT FREEDOM FROM CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS• The U.S. Government has taken into custody individuals they identify as “material witnesses,” transported them across the country, and held them for months in solitary confinement without charge or contact with their family.
• According to the Justice Department’s own Inspector General, immigrant men rounded up in the Ashcroft raids following September 11 and held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, NY were subjected to a pattern of “physical and verbal abuse.”
14th AMENDMENT RIGHT TO EQUAL PROTECTION• Over 82,000 men from Arab, Muslim and South Asian countries registered with the Government under the Special Registration program. Over 13,000 are now in deportation proceedings. None have been charged with terrorism.
It seems to me that over the last 235 years we've simply substituted one set of tyrants for another. Are the new ones measurably less draconian and tyrannical than the ones we shed?
You know, suddenly this hot dog doesn't taste so good anymore.
Thanks to the NY Bill of Rights Defense Campaign for some text contained herein.
Labels: bill of rights, erosion of rights, Independence Day, TSA abuses
