With the passage of the Protect America Act (pdf file), Congress has failed to enforce the Separation of Powers required by our Constitution. While the issue wends its way to the Supreme Court, and we wait to learn whether the failure of our Constitution is complete, there is one other avenue of relief that We The People can and should pursue.
davidseth wrote an inspiring series of diaries on recalling heros of the American labor movement at the turn of the century. See here, here. It is just as true today as it was 100 years ago that the only effective means by which the People may exercise political power, as opposed to merely expressing their will through their vote, is to withhold their labor from the economy.
Traditionally, the power of the labor strike was used to obtain fair working conditions and opportunities for American workers. To my knowledge, the power of the strike has never been used outside the context of labor issues. So it does not surprise me that Google turns up no formal response by organized labor to the passage of the Protect America Act.
In today's global economy, however, the issues affecting labor are far broader than was the case through much of the past century. Today's economy is dependent on the instant communication of information between points all over the globe. All communications within that network are now subject to warrantless, secret, surveillance under the Protect America Act.
How does this affect Labor? Information is power. The government now has the legal ability to monitor any confidential communication concerning persons physically located outside the U.S. How many businesses have employees working overseas? If the government so chooses, it may now monitor all business communications that cross the national border. Do the CEOs of the corporate world really want the U.S. government to be privy to their business plans? Their trade secrets? When the U.S. government is in a position to shut down a business endeavor because it is inconsistent with governmental interests or the interests of preferred private contractors, the entire economy becomes subject to the whims of those who control the government. That is not competitive, free market, capitalism. It's not even communism as it lacks the moral imperative of serving the common good. It is simply corruption on a massive scale. When the government is aware of all business planning, it is able to control all business enterprise, and, literally, every American worker will serve at the pleasure of the President regardless of the existence or non-existence of union contracts.
So where are the unions? Where is the voice of business?
Some of you may remember Joseph Nacchio, the Qwest executive who was convicted on, ironically, insider trading charges. Notably missing from his wiki bio is the fact that, under his leadership, Qwest was the only communications service provider who refused to cooperate with the government's original warrantless spying operation. A jury convicted him, and I'm not questioning the conviction, but his voice was effectively silenced as a result, and no others have stepped forward.
The CWA represents the employees of Cingular/AT&T, the only union-shop in the cell phone service industry. Their webpage makes no mention the Protect America Act. Contact the Communication Workers of America and ask them to address the labor ramifications of the Protect America Act.
At a minimum, the CWA leadership should attempt to negotiate a new contract provision requiring Cingular/AT&T to petition the FISA Court to strike down every directive received under the Protect America Act. Such petitions would force the government to justify its secret directives to the FISA Court. True, such proceedings are themselves secret and the government has the benefit of limited review and the ability to present evidence in secret where it cannot be challenged. But at the very least, the frequency and scope of the Attorney General's directives would be revealed to a FISA judge - someone outside of the Executive Branch, and quite possibly still able to exercise independent judgment.
The Protect America Act poses as great a threat to American business interests as it does to individual privacy. While I'm not naive enough to believe that there is currently enough support to maintain a general strike over this issue, some form of response is required, and this is as good a place to start as any. With both labor and management on the same side of the issue, it should be a no-brainer.
Heh.