When it comes to civil liberties, the Republican and Democratic parties tend to be two sides of the same coin. From the Alien and Sedition Acts of John Adams, the Trail of Tears of Andrew Jackson or Abraham Lincoln’s suspensions of habeas corpus during the Civil War, the United States government has a long bipartisan record of trampling the freedoms of citizens expressed in the Constitution.
Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Those who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Many do not take the time to think of the advice of the Sage of Philadelphia; in fact, during times of crisis, many Americans feel security should be given priority.
War always seems to have the effect of diminishing our liberties. Let us pause to remember the words of U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson, who said, “In war, the first casualty is always the truth.”
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and was met with little resistance by the Bush Administration.
The 342-page document has been called “the most atrocious attack on human liberty” by federal Judge Andrew Napolitano; and a sad fact is, not a single Congressman even had a chance to read the bill.
The act has been utilized by the FBI to seize the phone, library, and financial records of thousands of Americans who were deemed suspicious by the federal government. While opposing some of its provisions, then-Sen. Barack Obama voted to reauthorize this particular piece of legislation in 2006.
Recent revelations pertaining to surveillance of American citizens came with the release of James Bamford’s “The Shadow Factory,” in which the author cites interviews conducted with employees of the NSA that claim to have been ordered to listen in on personal conversations of US soldiers and aid workers while in Iraq and Afghanistan (sometimes very personal); according to a Department of Justice report in 2004, 8,984 requests were made on non-citizens compared to 8,943 requests for citizens. Flash forward to 2006 and you see 8,605 requests made on non-citizens compared to 11,517 requests for citizens.
One of the most glaring violations of civil liberties in the Obama administration so far is the recent revelation in a Washington Post article of a Presidential hit list of American civilians that can be targeted for assassination.
This authority was granted to the CIA by the Bush Administration after 9/11 if there was “sufficient evidence” that an individual was engaged in terrorist actions.
On that list is American born Anwar Aluaqi, a prominent Islamic Cleric. While the government claims that Aluaqi is hiding in Yemen and has become one of the leading members of Al-Qaeda, his family in the United States vehemently denies this. Either way, setting a precedent of placing citizens on a hit list to kill first and ask questions later would be dangerous. Wouldn’t the best option be to bring charges against him and have him tried based on evidence and allow the American system to run its course?
As explained by a senior administration official, there are no official parameters for choosing who is on this list other then that the President deems them a threat. This only further shows the crumbling path we have strayed down on a cart pulled by both Donkeys and Elephants, neither of which have any regard for the document they take an oath to uphold; being the beast that runs the cart towards the cliff seems to be the end in of itself.
Alex Habighorst is a sophomore majoring in political science. He can be contacted at [email protected].