Silence in the Face of Evil
by Bob Bauman, Editor, Sovereign Society's Offshore A-Letter <sovsoc@agoramail.net>
THE FACE OF EVIL. A-LETTER. 12.07.01.
Testifying before the US Senate yesterday US Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft said: "To those who pit Americans against immigrants and citizens against noncitizens, to those who scare peace loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve.
They give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends. They encourage people of good will to remain silent in the face of evil."
Mr. Ashcroft's arrogant bluster attempted to justify the radical curbs on US constitutional liberties imposed by he and Pres. George Bush, all in the popular name of fighting "terrorism." In effect Ashcroft decreed his critics to be the enemy, seeking to intimidate us into silence.
Since the horror of Sept. 11th many have questioned what is becoming the greatest destruction of American freedoms since the Civil War. Everyone should resent Ashcroft's demagogic attempt to smear those who are seriously concerned about military tribunals replacing civilian courts, suspension of habeus corpus, mass arrests and detentions, police secret searches, spying and a wholesale attack on financial and personal privacy. He of all people knows these police state tactics are not restricted to supposed 'terrorists' - they can be aimed at anyone he and his agents decide to tar with their pro-terrorism brush.
After our initial horror, disbelief, anger, sorrow for the 9/11 victims, my friend and former House colleague, US Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex), spoke for me: "Times of tragedy and war naturally bring out strong emotions... Sometimes people are only too anxious to sacrifice their constitutional liberties during a crisis, hoping to gain some measure of security. Yet nothing would please terrorists more than if we willingly gave up our cherished liberties because of their actions."
Is Ron Paul aiding terrorism? Are you and I? Quite the contrary.
When the US Attorney General can smear with impunity those concerned about loss of liberties, with the apparent approval of the president, this nation is danger well beyond the threat of terrorism. We have to question if the US Supreme Court ruling in the Milligan case still stands that: "The Constitution...is a law for rulers and people, equally
in war and in peace, and covers with its shield of protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances".
As do you, I consider myself to be patriotic. But my love of country forbids supine obedience to those who, without justification, would destroy our freedoms. We will do whatever we can legally to stop terrorism in any form, including vocal opposition to an Attorney General who seems unable to grasp the true meaning of the rule of law.
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* Ashcroft Dec. 6 Senate statement,
LINK: nytimes.com
* Ron Paul quote - LINK: antiwar.com
* US Supreme Court in Ex Parte Milligan, 71 US 2 (1866).
LINK: laws.findlaw.com
* Civil liberties take a back seat.
LINK: nytimes.com |
