Jonathan Turley: John Ashcroft unplugged: On the road, pushing Patriot Act . The Patriot Act represents the most significant rollback of civil liberties since the Civil War. Some of the country’s most conservative leaders have denounced both the act and Ashcroft’s record as a threat to liberty.
Posted by: John Moltz on September 2, 2003 04:15 PM
Well, yes, that is the point, but remember the terrorists HATE our freedoms. They just can’t stand them. They lie awake at night shaking in rage over the fact that we’re here walking around freely, not being unduly searched or seized.
But by REMOVING our freedoms, the terrorists will come to love us.
It’s really very simple.
Posted by: Ran Talbott on September 2, 2003 07:35 PM
Yes, there will be some protests as Ashcroft does his
Crypto-fascism 2003 Tour. But they won’t be very big, or
at all effective: the sad truth is that most Americans
view the debate over the Patriot Act as “a bunch of
pointy-headed liberals yammering about the treatment of
a bunch of towel-headed terrorists”. They don’t see it
as having anything to do with them, or anyone or anything
they care about.
I see very little hope of the situation improving anytime
soon: Americans have sacrificed every principle we
ever stood for in the name of the “war” on terrorism.
We’ve thrown away our beliefs in the rule of law, in
the fundamental rights of the individual, and in national
sovereignty. We’ve killed more innocent people than
al Qaida, accepted the same practices of torture we’ve
condemned other countries for (sometimes even using some
of those same states as our agents to distance ourselves
from the practice), and set up our own Star Chamber system of
secret trials and punishments of individuals who don’t
even have to be identified to the people in whose name
they’re being imprisoned (and possibly even executed).
And the Bushies are hinting that we’re just getting warmed up.
Benjamin Franklin once said that those who sacrifice
essential liberty for a little security deserve neither,
but we haven’t even gotten any security in exchange.
If Bush & Co. ever do succeed at establishing a
national religion, our first order of business should
be a National Day of Prayer that we don’t get what we
deserve…
Posted by: laurent_G on September 8, 2003 08:03 AM
I’ve heard an american journalist on TV5 (french edition) who told that if a major attack would happen on US ground, USA wouldn’t be a democracy no more.
I hope he’s wrong but my mind tells me he isn’t.
The terrorists would achieve their goals if it comes that way.
Posted by: laurent_G on September 8, 2003 08:04 AM
I’ve heard an american journalist on TV5 (french edition) who told that if a major attack would happen on US ground, USA wouldn’t be a democracy no more.
I hope he’s wrong but my mind tells me he isn’t.
The terrorists would achieve their goals if it comes that way.
Posted by: hey on September 2, 2003 07:20 AM
Hopefull the visability of Ashcroft in the cities
he visits will cause some protests.
I thought the whole point of the USA was liberty.
Without liberty the USA stands for nothing.