Goodnight, sweet civil liberties
They know the results of your proctology exam. They keep tabs on whether you’re a Stephen King type of person or if you prefer the finer works of Oscar Wilde. They can bug your apartment or any public pay phone you might happen to use without you ever knowing it. These are the reasons we fought communists for fifty years.
The United States of America, 2005.
This month, Congress voted to renew the U.S.A. Patriot Act, ironically the most unpatriotic piece of legislation ever written into this country’s law books. Bipartisan members of both the House and Senate agreed that some of the Bush administration’s domestic spy tactics go too far, such as administrative subpoenas without judicial approval. However, key provisions that make the bill so appalling were left in tact, including government access to library records, roving wiretaps, and other despicable abuses of power that we will live under for at least seven more years.
This involves more than conversational political bickering. This spy game we have become all too familiar with in the past four years is nothing short of frightening. One small step in security, one giant leap backward for civil liberties.
While on this roll of fascist thunder, the federal government also made sweeping alterations to a 1994 wiretap law, tremendously extending its reach against Americans. The law will have substantial effects on college students in particular. And yes, even you will be acquainted with this one very soon.
The New York Times reported last month that universities across the U.S. have delivered the biggest protest and even lawsuits against this order issued by the FCC. The order claims vast “improvements” made to the 11-year-old law will fight terrorism by placing surveillance on Internet services provided by universities for students. All colleges, including GC&SU, must comply with the new laws by 2007.
If the thought of the government reading your Facebook emails sounds pathetic, remember they’re not much, but we are talking your privacy here.
Oh yeah, and it gets worse.
This measure, which will do nothing in breaking down terrorist networks, will cost universities more than $7 billion, and guess who has to cough up that money? As if parking tickets and printing fees didn’t piss us off enough, this is said to raise average tuition costs by $450 at the very least.
What is the point of fighting our enemies if we are giving up what we are fighting for in the first place?
If only our current government agreed with Benjamin Franklin, who said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.”
But they don’t.
So, a toast to the death of constitutional sacredness. Goodnight sweet civil liberties, and may flocks of neo-conservatives lead thee to thy rest. At least you had a good run.
In what is perhaps my final word in this column, I would like to concisely respond to the letter of a “concerned student” from last week’s issue: Sorry, this isn’t North Korea. There will be no tongue-sheathing here today.
Brian Shreve
Columnist
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Dec 2 2005. Filed under Opinion.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
