Bushwhacked_ Life in George W. Bush's America Large Print - Molly Ivins [123]
And that’s what we do in this country, over and over. Get so scared of some dread menace—of communism or crime or drugs or illegal aliens or terrorists—that we hurt ourselves. We think we can make ourselves safer by making ourselves less free. It never works. When we make ourselves less free, we’re not safer, we’re only less free. When the PATRIOT Act (one thing this country needs is a good truth-in-captioning law) was passed in the wake of September 11, the country was good and scared, and so we hurt ourselves, doing real damage to the First and Fourth Amendments. Most Americans shrugged and said, “Well, it only applies to some Arab immigrants.” As Pastor Niemoller put it in the most quoted Holocaust text: “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist—so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat—so I did nothing. Then they came for the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew—so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left who could stand up for me.”
I’m not implying that attorney general John Ashcroft is a Nazi; I just think the “It’s only happening to them” principle is the same. In 2002 General Ashcroft announced his desire to set up camps for U.S. citizens he deems “enemy combatants.” This country is now holding American citizens in custody, without trial, without charges, without right to confront accusers, and without right to counsel, in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States of America. The government may now monitor religious and political groups without suspecting criminal activity. The government has closed once public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public-records requests. Despite the hundreds of arrests by Ashcroft, the only person found who may be associated with September 11 is Zaccarias Moussaoui, who was already in custody before the attacks.
Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation. Government may monitor federal-prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes. Government may search and seize Americans’ papers and effects without probable cause to assist a terror investigation. Government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial. Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.
None of this has made us any safer.
On March 18, 2003, in a speech at the Cleveland City Club, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia said the government can scale back individual rights during war. “The Constitution just sets minimums,” he said. “Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond the Constitution.”
Justice Scalia is wrong. The only amendment in the Bill of Rights that is affected by war is III: “No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” Amendment IX specifically makes it clear that the Bill of Rights is not a set of minimums: “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
This country is going to be attacked by terrorists again. Everyone from the Bush administration to the most dedicated doves