THE ASHCROFT WAY - EQUATING DISSENT WITH DISLOYALTY

The ideologue over at the Department of Justice was pushing things pretty
far when he started championing secret military tribunals, open-ended
detentions of terror suspects, the monitoring of attorney-client
conversations and spying on religious and political groups. But now he's
gone over the edge. In testimony before the Senate last week, Attorney
General John Ashcroft just about equated dissent of his policies with
disloyalty and came within a whisker of accusing those who oppose these
policies with treason.

That's serious business, but it shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Here
we have the darling of the far right, the man who was appointed to a power
position to pacify the absolutists of anti-abortionists and of gun control
opponents. John Ashcroft, in the background until Sept. 11, has come out
blazing, hacking up the Constitution as hard as he can go.

Oh, he's drawn plenty of counter-fire and not all of it has come from the
predictable defenders of the Constitution, the left. None other than mean
ol' Congressman Bob Barr has lashed out at the attorney general for cutting
constitutional corners. Then conservative commentators such as Bob Novak
and columnist William Safire attacked Ashcroft for his policies.

But it was the attorney general's attack on them, editorialists and others
for opposing his policies that brought the stink to an all time high.

Who, in short, is this man to accuse others of disloyalty?

We can sing God Bless America just as loud as John Ashcroft. But this man
can't seem to understand that open debate and dissent are deeply ingrained
American traits and by the way, enshrined in the Constitution. Expressing
one's opinion makes this country strong, cowering in the shadow of a
ideological hot head like John Ashcroft turns us into a congregation of
weaklings happy to go along with whatever the big man wants. That might
work in Iraq, but it won't cut it here.

So, Mr. Ashcroft should temper his near talk of treason, for dissent will
flow long and hard from this editorial page and many others around the
nation as well as from the mouths of those who dare defend the foundation
of this nation.

Go on, Mr. Ashcroft, carry on with the McCarthiest threats and come after
us if you want. But the price will be demands for your resignation.