The fear generated by 9/11 allowed the government to launch a massive assault on our rights and liberties. From John and Nisha Whitehead at rutherford.org:
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” — Abraham Lincoln
Those who gave us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights believed that the government exists at the behest of its citizens. It is there to protect, defend and even enhance our freedoms, not violate them.
Unfortunately, although the Bill of Rights was adopted as a means of protecting the people against government tyranny, in America today, the government does whatever it wants, freedom be damned.
In the 22 years since the USA Patriot Act—a massive 342-page wish list of expanded powers for the FBI and CIA—was rammed through Congress in the wake of the so-called 9/11 terror attacks, it has snowballed into the eradication of every vital safeguard against government overreach, corruption and abuse.
The Patriot Act drove a stake through the heart of the Bill of Rights, violating at least six of the ten original amendments—the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Amendments—and possibly the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well.
The Patriot Act also redefined terrorism so broadly that many non-terrorist political activities such as protest marches, demonstrations and civil disobedience are now considered potential terrorist acts, thereby rendering anyone desiring to engage in protected First Amendment expressive activities as suspects of the surveillance state.
The Patriot Act justified broader domestic surveillance, the logic being that if government agents knew more about each American, they could distinguish the terrorists from law-abiding citizens—no doubt a reflexive impulse shared by small-town police and federal agents alike.
The temptation of civil leaders to abandon the principles of the Constitution is too great for them to be trusted. The first president violated the Constitution when he authorized the use of counterfeit money (fiat currency) by the First Bank of the United States, which incurred public debt, and direct taxation and when the public began to protest, he banned free assembly and the right to free speech.
The belief that once a leader is elected, he must be obeyed until a moral leader can be selected leads people to believe they are in charge and it is their fault they didn’t get a good leader; until then, they must wait until their leader is convinced that he needs to change or submit no matter the consequences.
This country has arrived at its destination by many small steps along the way (there are a few big ones, but they didn’t seem to big since the country was goin that direction anyway). Still, the possibility that it can be redirected by small steps in the opposite direction is nil. Attempts at making small changes toward liberty amount to no more than swerving and then realigning with the current held goal of absolute control.
Chad Chadburn
Always read and enjoy your work.
Thanks for the compliment and your consistently incisive comments.
My Mom, a graduate of Tobacco Road
in N. Alabama, a centurey ago, began
a life that led her to one conclusion about
how to conduct onself in any country,
at any time. “Root hog or die poor.”
That was the sum total of her advice to
me. I ignored it and ran with the 60’s
sensibilites. She was right and I have
paid for ignoring her. I defy anyone to
tell me that isnt a valid assessment of
human affairs.