(note: i've been screaming bloody murder about the assault on our constitution for over two years on my own blog, And, yes, I DO take it personally, but my frustration about the relative complacency about this issue on the so-called liberal and progressive blogs is now boiling over...)
with all the caterwauling about the criminality of the bush administration and its abuse of executive power - torture, signing statements, extraordinary rendition, stonewalling subpoenas, secrecy, executive privilege, illegal wars, recess appointments, first and fourth amendment violations, election stealing, election rigging, politicization of the executive branch, violations of the hatch act, leaking classified information, outing an undercover cia agent, on, and on, and on - i just don't get it... looking at demfromct's front-pager and checking out the multitude of issues-related diaries, i simply cannot fathom why the shredding of the united states constitution is not the number one issue on daily kos... i can understand why it might not be the top issue among the citizenry at large, but, for god's sake, kossacks, GET A CLUE...!
[more on the flip]
please, don't misunderstand me... all of the issues cited in demfromct's post - iraq, healthcare, the economy, immigration - are certainly major issues, and, in any kind of NORMAL (i.e., non-bush) political environment, would certainly be my top choices (although, to be honest, i'd substitute education for immigration)... but, when, practically every 2-3 weeks i see yet ANOTHER piece of constitution-trampling legislation materialize without AT LEAST the progressive bloggers marching on the white house with rakes and hoes, i'm beginning to wonder if i might not be living in a parallel universe...
the other day, i stumbled on this...
H.R. 1955: "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism" [PDF]
even following the news as thoroughly as I do, this one slipped by me, as i'm sure it has most americans... read it carefully...
[C]ongresswoman Jane Harman has introduced legislation--H.R. 1955: "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism"--that is expected to be referred to the House Rules Committee for assignment of floor time for debate by the House. This is a bill that is unneeded, unwise, and unfortunately will pass and be signed into law as it purports to be part of the response to 9/11 and the global war on terror.
At base, Harman's proposal seems to be a direct attack on First Amendment rights. No where is this more clear than in the third introductory paragraph (the "where as" section) that provides the context for the action desired. Specifically, this legislation aims at the unregulated nature of the Internet:
"The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens."
Moreover, Harman is telling the American public, citizens and permanent residents, that they are too dumb to recognize hate speech, demonizing rhetoric, and propaganda, and are so morally immature that they are not capable of knowing when to "blow off" terrorists and their messages designed to incite large scale insurrection
One also gets the impression that Harman believes that terrorist criminality has become so wide and the number of people who mentally entertain thoughts of non-compliance with authority so numerous that the country is about to teeter into chaos.
are ya pissed off yet...? well, hang on to your seat... it gets better...
There is more. To get to this "more," it's necessary to reproduce three definitions contained in the bill.
VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.
HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.
IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE- the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual's political, religious, or social beliefs.
The key is in the last definition. The history of democracy is that over time, government encroaches so much into the lives of its people that government itself becomes the problem. Consider that in the 1770s, had the U.S. been a country with a law that criminalized the "threatened use of violence," every one of the Founding Fathers who participated in the Boston Tea Party organized into the Minute Men detachments or refused to accede to the British soldiers foraging on private property would have been guilty of "violent radicalization" and of promoting "ideologically based violence."
What has become an "extremist belief" in some circles within the government is democracy. Look again at the three definitions. Do they not directly challenge one of the most fundamental rights that many in the U.S. trace back to time immemorial: the right of citizens to "keep and bear arms"? Again, a people who have access to firearms inherently pose a "threat" to any government, even one with a standing army at its beck and call. And the more centralized the power of the ruler (e.g., the unitary presidency), the greater the temptation to seize the weapons--and the rights--of its citizens.
the bottom line...?
In this legislation as drafted, the underlying unacknowledged assumption is that "radicalized thought" can lead to only one outcome: an attempt to overthrow government by violence.
so, once again, a constitution-shredding piece of legislation is being proposed in the name of "fighting terrorism," and by democrat jane harman no less... fierce opposition to measures like this is what i would expect from kossacks and other liberal and progressive bloggers who are taking a strong stand for the preservation of our democratic republic... at the very least, kossacks can use this national platform to educate people on such dangerous legislation and to draw the obvious connections between this, the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, the Protect America Act, Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directives NSPD-51 and HSPD-20, and, of course, the quickly disappearing story du jour, the heinous FISA bill with its provision for granting telecom immunity... and, of course, that's not even mentioning the myriad other constitution-defying actions and directives over the past 6 1/2 years, the ones we know about and the many more we probably don't..
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE, PEOPLE! without a constitution, we're not going to be able to do a goddam thing about ANYTHING, much less iraq, healthcare, the economy, immigration, education or anything else...