| Political HooplaI've been having some interesting thoughts lately, and have been seeing and hearing some interesting things as well. I have been increasingly interested in politics lately. I used to think that politics didn't concern me, that it didn't effect me in any way, because I was not a wealthy nor affluent person, but it turns out that politics, and the running of the country has a huge impact on my life and the lives of others especially since I have become so enthralled with the Social Gospel. Yesterday, republican senators filibustered a bill to restore Habeus Corpus to detainees suspected of being terrorists. According to Steve Benen of the Carpet Bagger report, this could lead to the indefinite detention of prisoners wrongfully suspected of terrorism. Those who are students of history and/or politics know that Habeus Corpus has been one of the United States time tested rights protecting the accused against governmental abuse. Also on Monday, a student was tasered at a John Kerry speech as a response to his questioning of the senator. Congress also at the begining of August passed a bill that allowed for wiretapping without a warrant of phone calls made by those suspected of being terrorists. I bring up the student because it is a case of the overuse of force by officials towards a protestor. It makes me wonder though how we got to this point in our history where we decided it was ok to give up our liberties as Americans in order to preserve our "freedom." I am not saying that any one particular person is responsible for what has gone on, but there are some who have taken advantage of a quickly escalating problem. The problem I think is fear. Lately I have been thinking a lot about where the fear in America started. Mabye it started back in the 20's and 30's with the red scare and the communist witch hunt which circulated around the country; mabye it started with the cold war; I'm not sure but it has been a continuing threat in the 20th and now the 21st century. It is fear that has caused people to give up those certain "unalieinable rights" which has made this country the defender of the oppressed and the helpless, in order to secure thier safety in what we are told is "a nation in danger." We have been progressively been told that we are in grave danger for the past six years by those in charge of the direction of this country. Michael Moore made a point in his movie Bowling for Columbine, I believe it was, that the government has gotten so good at instilling fear in us that it doesn't even have to give us a specific reason for it. The Dialy Show with Jon Stewart even poked fun at Michael Chertoff's gut feeling about the increased risk of terrorist activity for the summer, because Al-Qaeda seemed to like the summertime. Since 2001, there has not been a terrorist attack stopped in this country nor have there been any plausible terrorist plans uncovered, but the terror alert level has not dropped below yellow (elevated- significant risk of terrorist attacks) in these last six years, spreading fear throughout the States. If the terrorists planned to spread fear throughout the US, they have succeeded with extra help from our own government officials. Author Naomi Wolf has written a book called, End of America: Letters to a Young Patriot, in which she discusses ten attributes or steps which, according to her, preceded the rise of all of the Facist states in history, including the establishment of secret prisons where torture is used, and the use of an event to spread fear throughout its citizenry. It's a scary look at what may be the future of America. World powers historically have not lasted past 200 years after reaching thier "golden age." What a thought that we could be living at the end of the American civilization, or at least at the end of it's reign as a free world power. We have lived so long knowing what it's like to live in a free country undertaking the experiment of democracy that perhaps we have forgotten that we have always been one apathetic generation from ceasing to exist; one generation that says it doesn't affect me; one generation that would trade its freedoms and civil liberties for the illusion of personal safety. I have to draw an allusion from Star Wars here, where Queen Amadala is sitting in the senate after the Chancellor has been given supreme power and crowned Emperor. She says, "So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause." It is a grim reminder that fear, not force is what kills freedom and liberty, and through that democracy. It seems very strange to me that the political party that is founded on small government would be the one to take away liberties and freedoms. This all reminds me of the book 1984, where the intrusive and all encompasing government established itself under the guise of protection and public safety. How long until the government expands its jurisdiction to the removal of free speech, the right to peacable assembly, the press? How long until it expands the label of "terrorist" to include those who speak out against the government or governmental policies, we will see. Unless we remember; unless we speak out now against the stripping of our rights and protect them with our lives. We laud and praise the troops who are giving thier lives to protect our freedom, but we must do that here as well, and not trade our liberty for safety, or they are fighting, and have fought, for nothing. |
