WHO GAVE YOUR RIGHTS AWAY?

Many conservatives, liberals and libertarians are protesting the numerous
invasions of your liberty that Congress and the Bush administration have
imposed during the past two months. But without realizing it, many of the
protestors brought these invasions on themselves.

This is America?

I do share their concerns, however.

First, Congress rammed through an "anti-terrorism" bill that violates the
civil liberties of all Americans, not just terrorists.

The new law allows federal officials to search your home when you're not
present and not even tell you your home has been searched. You could come
home one day and find your computer, file cabinets and legal papers have
disappeared. You'd naturally think it was a burglary, but the burglars
would be government employees (shades of Watergate).

Warrants can be issued in secret, and you may not be allowed to see a
warrant -- or contest it -- covering a search of your property.

This is America?

Government officials can go into any company anywhere and search records of
your purchases and credit history, discover the websites you've visited, or
monitor your e-mail -- without evidence of a crime and without telling you,
and they can order the companies not to tell you about the search.

Then the Bush administration, apparently invoking the divine right of
kings, decided that people can be tried and executed by secret courts
(using secret evidence not available for you to refute), that government
agents can eavesdrop on attorney-client conversations, and that federal
agents can conduct searches without judicial oversight.

This is America?

And understand that the so-called "War on Terrorism" is only two months
old. This is just the beginning. What's still to come?

In previous wars, citizens were imprisoned for speaking out against the
government, newspapers were closed for protesting the war, private
publications were censored, and people of foreign ancestry were put in
concentration camps. We have a lot to look forward to.

Don't be deceived!

The press implies that the new civil-liberties invasions will apply only to
terrorists.

Not true.

They apply to you, because anyone can be suspected of being a terrorist --
including you. In fact, the new definition of "suspected terrorist"
includes people speaking out against government policies.

And if law-enforcement officials are to decide whose civil liberties will
be denied, one of them may become convinced you're connected to the
terrorists in some way, try you in a secret court, sentence you, imprison
you and even execute you -- with no opportunity for you to appeal the
verdict or your sentence.

This is America?

An administration official told The Washington Post "The U.S. Constitution
doesn't protect anyone hiding and planning acts of violence." But what he
meant was, "The U.S. Constitution doesn't protect anyone we suspect of
hiding and planning acts of violence." They don't know who's actually
guilty until after a civil, public trial -- conducted with all the
traditional rules of evidence. What they have arrogated to themselves is
the power to decide whether or not you will be protected by the Constitution.

This is America?

If you're not frightened by this, you're simply not paying attention.

Won't be limited to a few people

Have you been told that some of these invasions apply only to aliens -- or
some other small group of people?

Don't be reassured. When has any invasion of liberty not been expanded to
cover all people eventually?

The clearly unconstitutional RICO laws were supposed to apply only to
organized crime -- but hardly a single Mafia kingpin has been prosecuted
using RICO, while abortion protestors and stockbrokers have been jailed by
these laws. The clearly unconstitutional asset-forfeiture laws were only to
nab big-time drug dealers, but all across America the property of innocent
people has been seized.

It's only a matter of time until every new oppression applies to all Americans.

Why this happened

I said that many of those protesting these invasions brought this on
themselves. How?

It's very simple.

Attorney General John Ashcroft justified the unconstitutional police-state
tactics by saying, "I think it's important to understand that we are at war
now."

And there you have it. As Randolph Bourne said, "War is the health of the
state." Once you grant the government war-making powers, you grant the
politicians the power to do anything they want. After all, you can't put
your own personal liberty ahead of the good of the Fatherland, can you?

Congress didn't declare war. There were none of the usual pre-war
negotiations to try to avoid going to war. We're not even at war with any
specific nation. But just utter the magic word "war" and all your rights
can be stolen from you.

So if you hollered for war, you hollered to have your rights taken away
from you.

Who gave your rights away? You did -- if you supported the idea that the
politicians should be free to do anything they want to satisfy a national
lust for revenge.

Isn't it time to start taking back your liberty?

More of his articles can be read at HarryBrowne.org -- and his books are
available at HBBooks.com.