It was over 200 years ago when brave men stood their ground and were willing to die to establish a new country, to gain the freedoms from tyrrany. If they were to see us now, would they be rolling over in their graves? Would they, like me, be shedding tears of grief because those freedoms that they fought for have been thrown aside by our nations leaders of today?
Over 20 years ago, I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. At that time the enemy I stood guard against was a regime that tapped their citizens phones, bugged public places all for the good of their country. Their media was controlled by the state and rarely, if ever, reported anything "ugly" against their leaders. To do so meant imprisonment or worse, they disappeared. Protestors against the leadership were arrested, branded dissidents, were not allowed to leave the country (if they remained free that is). Those who stood with that government were given free passes to break the laws of that country. The government policemen were allowed to enter the abodes of it’s citizens without cause and those citizens had no recourse. Too many innocent individuals were detained without recourse. How different is the USA today from that enemy that I stood guard against so many years ago? Unfortunately not much and the passing of the FISA bill puts us perilously close to the former USSR.
How eerie the comparisons of what the former Soviet Union did to what our government has been doing for the past 8 years in the name of protecting freedom, protecting the American people.
Our government tells us that our way of life, our own freedoms are at risk by the present threat. Yet it has been this government, the legislative, executive and, unfortunately, the judicial branch, that has been the greatest threat to our freedoms, using the excuse that it’s essential for our security to limit freedom with certain laws that go against the very Constitution. Again, by passing the FISA bill, they have shown their disregard to the very constitution they took an oath to protect.
Today I cry even more, because once again, my government slapped me in the face. In the past, I’ve been slapped by this government before, because I was a woman, because I was a spouse who’d have to make life and death decisions for my husband. Today they’ve slapped me and every veteran and military member who took their oath to protect that Constitution seriously. Today, they’ve made my service to my country a joke by once again putting us perilously close to operating under Soviet style law by not only walking a close line to disregarding the articles of the Constitution, but failing to hold those who’ve completely ignored it accountable, supposedly in the name of freedom.
I should be proud of my service to my country, why is it that my government makes me hang my head in shame because of it?