Reclaiming Our Civil Liberties - Again
Brian Corr is the Field Organizer for the Massachusetts affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Full Article:
Since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act six years ago this October, we have seen a growing imbalance in the power of the Executive Branch as compared to that of Congress and the courts. President George W. Bush claims that he can act in secret - without the consent of the governed - hiding his actions from Congress and the people of this country in the name of fighting terror, even when the information being hidden has nothing to do with our safety.
By ordering kidnapping and by "rendering" individuals to be tortured abroad, by eavesdropping without warrants on regular people here at home and by issuing secret demands for our library records and other personal information, and by terrorizing US Americans in the name of keeping our airports safe, the Bush Administration is violating our Constitution and the values of freedom and fairness it represents.
Most recently, the "Protect Americans Act" (which legalizes wiretapping and interception of all international communications without a warrant) has increased public outrage at the continuing erosion of our civil liberties.
As we look ahead to 2008, there is one major goal for civil liberties: to roll back the systematic abuse of power by the federal government, restoring the rule of law. This is a lofty goal, but it is also a realistic one if we consider four priorities where we can make real progress:
- Ending rampant surveillance and warrantless spying on people in the United States;
- Restoring habeas corpus and due process;
- Shutting down the prison at Guan-tánamo Bay and giving those held there access to justice; and
- Stopping torture and "extraordinary rendition" (kidnapping people and sending them to countries where torture is used).
A majority of people in the US support all four of these positions, and each of them is achievable. We have the op-portunity to engage people on these issues at a time when there is a growing sense that our country is on the wrong track, and that we are being asked to sacrifice our basic rights for a false sense of security.
Challenging Complacency
The major challenge we face is inaction and complacency: the idea that all we have to do is to "wait for 2008" when a new president and Congress will restore our civil liberties. This is obviously connected to the idea that the most important thing we can do is elect a president who will "fix America." But nothing could be further from the truth.
We must remember that the promises of liberty and freedom contained in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not gifts, but values which must be preserved - and which have often been contested. From the Civil War to the Palmer Raids to the internment of Americans of Japanese descent to the Red Scare to the War on Terrorism, there have been many assaults on civil rights and civil liberties in the name of security.
We must remain determined to hold the US government responsible not just for stopping the torture and abuse of detainees, but for resisting the many other abuses of power that are taking place in the name of fighting terrorism, such as warrantless wiretapping and spying on domestic groups. There must be real, meaningful judicial checks on the exercise of executive power.
The only way to reclaim our civil liberties is by actively engaging people on those four key issues: domestic spying, habeas corpus, Guantánamo, and torture and rendition. Activists need to bird-dog candidates, asking them directly and specifically if they support the four priorities above. We must write letters to the editor, and speak to our friends and neighbors, all with three simple points: No one is above the law, not even the president of the United States; our government's policies are making us less safe and less free; and the next president and Congress must respect and enforce the Constitution and the rule of law.
