It's a new year and we continue to have increasing threats to American Democracy, not from external enemies, but from internal ones. Unfortunatley, it is the President of the United States who is leading the assault on our civil rights.
Attacks on the democratic process are coming in many forms, but the most obvious is the use of "Free Speech" or "Protest" zones designed to keep protesters away from the President and other figures and to keep the press away from protesters. Those who refuse to move to the zones are often arrested and charged, although some insightful jurists have rejected the government's claim that holding a protest sign while standing in a crowd of the President's supporters is disturbing the peace.
Other attacks on freedom are more subtle, such as this case, in which the government is attempting to keep to even keep the charges filed against a man detained after Sept. 11, 2001 secret. This one is an obvious violation of the Constitutional requirement that the accused be allowed to face their accuser. I'm left wondering how you can mount a defense if the charges are secret...
Finally, the President quietly signed new legislation that gives the FBI the power to obtain documents from "financial" institutions about anyone. This power is not subject to any review from judges and requires no demonstration of probably cause. It is entirely at the whim of individual agents. So much for the 4th Amendment stricture that all Americans be "secure in their persons, papers, and property."
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has compiled a longer and more comprehensive list of threats.
With these threats to the Republic, we don't need foreign enemies. We're destroying ourselves just fine.
Posted by Chris at January 6, 2004 01:55 PM