I'm chilled
Its no secret that this Administration is no friend of mine. Pretty much everything Bush does honestly scares me, both in the immediate sense, and in the way in which I feel it will impact the future of the nation. Its not just the decisions that he makes personally, but the climate he has created under which other people feel comfortable to make their own, smaller changes. Bush's declaration of faith, and his Faith-Based Initiatives, give Christian religious zealots a feeling of empowerment that goes beyond the previously agreed upon level of constitutional acceptance. It allows for things like public school districts who add "Bible Study" to their regular curriculum. It allows for "Abstinence Only Sex-Education". It allows for multiple legal challenges to that pesky "theory" of Evolution, and the corresponding push for Creationism, and its watered-down brother "Intelligent Design".
Bush's vague warnings about the "evildoers" give ordinary citizens a feeling of empowerment that allows them to mask their bigotry and hate under the guise of national security. Racial profiling is considered a bad thing - unless you're profiling an Arab. We have hundreds of people STILL being detained under suspicion of terrorist links, people without rights who have no legal representation and no recourse, some of whom have been detained for YEARS. Hundreds more were deported - not for any actual terrorist affiliation, but for *other* offenses that were uncovered during their protracted investigation. The Patriot Act nullifies HUNDREDS of rights while we remain under "siege".
AND THE VAST MAJORITY OF OUR CITIZENRY DOES NOT CARE. Because these changes are in our best interest! Its a willing sacrifice we make to ferret out those among us who would do us harm. People willingly produce their identification, hand over their backpacks, open the trunks of their cars, and surrender their personal freedoms one after the other in response to the vaguest of terror threats. In response to the recent bombings in London, the NYPD has taken to random personal searches at all mass transit locations. You go into the subway, you may be asked to surrender your belongings for search. If you refuse, you will be denied entry - and obviously looked at with increased suspicion. If you agree, and they don't find a bomb, but they do find drugs, or scalped Knicks tickets, or whatever, you will be arrested. How do they choose which bags to search? There is no criteria - the officers are asked to use their judgement based on what looks suspicious or threatening to them.
CIVIL LIBERTIES MATTER, GODDAMMIT!
Now, I wake up this morning and sit down to enjoy my Sunday paper and coffee. And I find this:
Sunday Newsday
Its a long article. It was the headline that caught my eye: "LI police asking regular citizens from waiters to landlords to report signs shown by people they meet"
For a few years now, and with increasing frequency and fervor, the "liberal left nut-cases" have been making comparisons between present day America and Nazi Germany. Tragically, this comparison is becoming less and less reactionary, and more and more realistic.
Some highlights:
"The authorities are asking Long Islanders to do everything from reporting on diners' conversations to monitoring strangers' Internet use to observing fellow worshipers at religious services to noting when parents withdraw their kids from school."
"Suffolk and Nassau county executives, along with high-ranking police officers and a top Suffolk school security official, endorse Operation Safeguard, characterizing the state's requests as reasonable given the level of perceived threat." (emphasis added)
"While Operation Safeguard is not being conducted in response to any specific threat, police say they want to do what they can to thwart future terrorist attacks."
"In all, police are visiting 70 types of organizations. The list of establishments Operation Safeguard recommends police "target" includes libraries, schools, churches, synagogues, bars, sellers of religious vestments, abortion clinics, jewelry stores, restaurants, real estate agents, scuba shops, veterinarians and plastic surgeons."
Schools? Churches? ABORTION CLINICS???
"A two-page letter from McMahon distributed to local schools, for example, advises personnel to be on the look out for "general indicators" that could signal terror plots, including attempts by individuals to gain information on bus routes and the religious composition of the student body."
The religious composition of the student body???
"Pointing out the "1-866-SAFE-NYS" card from Suffolk County's Fourth Precinct she keeps propped up on her computer keyboard, Quinn, who has the self-storage business in St. James, said, "If we have to take a few moments out of our day to keep ourselves and our neighbors safe, it's well worth it."
Frank Paruolo, a Sayville real estate broker, said Fifth Precinct Police Officer Marc Frascogna asked him to report anyone who presents multiple forms of identification or buys a house and leaves it vacant. "This is not something that's going to infringe on my responsibility to my clients," said Paruolo.
Vincent Malizia, co-owner of the nearby Collins & Main restaurant, said his waiters and waitresses are too busy to listen in on diners' conversations. But after his visit from police, Malizia briefed his employees and asked them to note unusual activity. "If a customer comes in with a backpack and doesn't want to check it ... that could be suspicious," he said.
Its ironic as hell. The rhetoric states that we are the target of the "evildoers" because the evildoers hate freedom and democracy. So, how do we respond? By stripping away from our citizens the very freedoms for which we are allegedly reviled - in the name of FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY! And the populace just NODS and SMILES and SUBMITS. You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide.
First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.
Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
I'm so damn scared.