Washington DC, New York City, Pennsylvania
America Under Attack!
Are We Doing The Right Thing?
This evening (Thursday, 20 Sept) in his address to the nation President Bush stated, among other things, that he had created a new Cabinet position - Secretary of Inland Safety/Security. I don't want to sound "alarmist" here, or even "anti-patriotic", but this simple little statement made my skin crawl. I immediately thought about a couple other positions in government that were created "in the interest of safety and security". One is the Committee for State Security, the other is the Commission For The Public's Well-being. The Committee for State Security, in its native language is "Komitet Gosudarstvennykh Bezopasnosti", and we know it as the KGB. The Commission For The Public's Well-being, in its native language is called Gestapo.
I, as a loyal American, have a great dread of this new Secretary. What will be the powers of this new position? What will be the aim, the limitations? What will be the effect on me and other loyal Americans? My fear is that this is the first real nail in the coffin of the US Constitution. At what point will my thoughts, writings, statements and actions be considered as "not in the interests of the nation"? At what point will the Secretary of Inland Safety/Security be able to silence me (and/or other Americans) because my point of view or interests don't coincide with the governments? Will I be jailed for "incorrect thinking"? Will there be "re-education" to correct my "incorrect" thinking? Will there be concentration camps, ostensibly to "get incorrect thinking people out of the public view"? I'm seeing rather vivid views of the "re-education" camps in the Germany of the 1940's and the VietNam of the 1970's.
Along other lines of this concern; this new Secretary, whatever his powers may be, will certainly have subordinates - people that will work "locally" in this department. What will be their authority? These people could easily turn out to be the most dangerous of all. I have visions of "spies/informers/agents" being recruited in local governments, the local mall, apartment houses, in neighborhoods (like a neighborhood watch group, but working for the government instead of working for the people), in schools ("...we must educate our children properly", they'll say, to the government's view), in our homes(?).
UPDATE: 20 November 2001
One of my favorite hobbies is flying model airplanes, both the old control-line and the newer radio-controlled types. I've already experienced radio interferrence, on supposedly exclusive frequencies - frequencies that have been reserved specifically for radio-controlled airplanes. The source of the interferrence was very probably a local sheriff deputy that was parked right next to where I was flying - he was doing something with the radios in his police cruiser. Whatever the cause, it resulted in the loss/crash of two planes - each costing me several hundred dollars and many weeks of work.
Now, this was accidental (I think). But, everybody in the local area knows about me and my planes. I was strongly advised by local law enforcement, right after the terrorist bombings, that 'it wouldn't be a good idea to fly my planes, what with all the full-size planes being grounded'. Oh, really? I don't see my models as any kind of "national security" issue. But, would a local agent of this new Secretary agree? What powers would he have to limit my freedoms in just this one legal interest/activity?
What other interests/activities of how many other people might be curtailed/limited/outlawed, in "the interests of the nation"? Granted, my interest is not shared by a large group of people in this country - statistically. But, golfing, baseball, football, camping, hiking, sports of all kinds, and the right to freedom of travel - are.
Already, I see security people (with no particular target or aim) patting-down sports fans at games. Security people have been documented, by the press, to search through a man's wallet at an airport - pulling everything out of it for inspection. Since when did a photograph of a man's family, and his credit cards, become of interest to security? A lady at another airport had the fingernail file broken off a fingernail clipper in her purse by security people. Many local airports have been (probably) permanently closed near various cities, in the interest of security. In effect, the owners of the airports and planes have had their property "seized" by the government.
Our Constitution has (or had) provisions against unreasonable search and seizure.
Already, with this new Secretary not even established with an office of his own or agents to work for him, we have this kind of limitations on the rights of law-abiding citizens - in the interest of security.
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ATTACK On America! 9-11-2001 |
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