While a number of conservatives fight for a less powerful government, Attorney General John Ashcroft has spent the past year-and-a-half in an effort to protect personal freedom and individual rights proving that he believes in government with the unchecked power of Oceania from George Orwell's 1984.
It all began with the Patriot Act, which Congress passed with virtually no opposition, in the wake of Sept. 11. A number of Democrats and Republicans voiced concerns to what they viewed as an overreach of government authority in the name of fighting terrorism, but they eventually backed-down to try to unite in a time of national mourning. The Patriot Act has a number of flaws, but it cannot abolish American freedom itself. However, Ashcroft's new pet plan, the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, is quite possibly the most frightening piece of legislation ever contrived in the annals of American government.
Upon Congressional approval, the Domestic Security Enhancement Act would immediately seek to tarnish the Bill of Rights, through a variety of cunning and wicked actions. First, the act would revoke portions of the Freedom of Information Act, which is legislation that allows all citizens the right to know the actions of their government, within reasonable boundaries. For example, the Freedom of Information Act permits the federal government to withhold information pertaining to prisoners if disclosure of such details would hamper the investigation of other suspects or events (for more information, see http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org).
The Domestic Security Enhancement Act would not only reiterate the government's authority in this instance, but also increase it. Therefore the Department of Justice would simply have to label a person a terrorist to invoke this right. This poses a grave problem.
The Patriot Act redefined "terrorist activity" in such a broad manner that simple vandalism can now qualify. Theoretically, if someone from a rival campus organization paints the graffiti wall and you vandalize their work, Ashcroft and his storm troopers can declare you a terrorist and lock you in jail as an "enemy combatant," providing no justification for doing so. Furthermore, if your family wondered what happened to you, and questioned the Justice Department, no one would be required to tell them anything.
Another slap in the face to the Freedom of Information Act allows the government to prevent citizens from access to information about health risks posed by toxic chemical spills or explosions in their areas (section 202). Were this in place a year or so ago, the public may never have known about the hole in a reactor cover at the Davis-Bessie Nuclear Power Plant in northwest Ohio. This could have meant a nuclear meltdown in this very state.
The Domestic Security Enhancement Act would eliminate laws that prohibit police from spying on citizens without evidence of criminal activity (section 312). That would grant the CIA and FBI rights to pursue methods of domestic terrorism against activists. Such actions have been illegal since an actual government program of abuses against 1960s activists became public knowledge.
As appalling as countless sections of this new legislation are, one stands a "sieg heil" and a goosestep above the rest. Section 501 of the act makes it possible for a small donation to an organization to lead to the revocation of your U.S. citizenship. According to the legislation, Ashcroft, a man granted amazing authority as reward for losing his senate seat to a dead man, can place any organization in the world on a black list. Any group placed on the list would, from that point on, be considered a terrorist or terrorist-supporting organization. Consequently, any donation you make to a group on this list, regardless of size or whether or not you know the group is on the list, would be deemed a contribution to terrorism, and as such the government could strip your citizenship.
Since Sept. 11, the government has preached to us that if we change the way we live our lives, the terrorists have won. It"s time for people to throw this back in the face of the hypocrites running the nation right now. If the Domestic Security Enhancement Act passes, life as Americans revere it may never exist again. John Ashcroft wants us to abandon our rights as citizens of the United States. You ought to hate this, because if you don"t, then the terrorists have won.
--Kovach is a sophomore political science and history major expects to hear Fuhrer Ashcroft's secret police knocking on the door at any moment. Send him an e-mail at kevin.kovach@ohiou.edu.
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Kevin Kovach
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