Freedoms Lost Under G.W. Bush
By Chuck Baldwin The Covenant News ~ February 01, 2005
Supporters and apologists for President G.W. Bush will often
assail my assertion that the Bush administration has done more to
dismantle constitutional protections of our liberties than any
president in modern memory. It seems that these people believe
that until federal Storm Troopers knock down the doors of their
homes and drag them off to the gulags, they have lost no freedoms.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
If history is any teacher, it instructs us in the incremental process
that elitists use to implement their totalitarian agenda. The first
step is to use an incessant, highly orchestrated propaganda. For all
practical purposes, the major media in the United States is
providing that propaganda. At the national level, there is hardly
any investigative journalism going on. Instead, the national press
corps has become little more than lazy lackeys for the White
House.
The second step is to lay the foundation for totalitarianism by
passing legislation that may later be used against the citizenry. And
that is exactly what the Bush administration has very successfully
accomplished. It very adroitly succeeded where the Clinton
administration failed.
For example, most conservatives would be surprised to learn that
the Patriot Act and Department of Homeland Security was the
brainchild of one William Jefferson Clinton. However, a
recalcitrant Republican Congress denied Clinton the opportunity to
implement these plans. Of course, with the Republican, G.W.
Bush, serving as President, that same Republican Congress was all
too eager to pass these bills into law.
The third step is to demonize and marginalize anyone and
everyone who opposes the government's plans and ambitions.
Such opponents are characterized as "unpatriotic,"
"obstructionist," "uncompassionate," or even "ungodly." Once
again, the Bush minions have very skillfully done just that. Anyone
who dares to oppose or even question Bush must be regarded as
enemies of America or even as enemies of God.
Of course, the last step is to begin using the power and force of
government to physically silence or remove those who are
determined to require such treatment. And, as Germany's National
Socialists proved, by the time this happens, there is no one around
who is capable of coming to the assistance of such people.
For those who are willing to objectively analyze Bush's actions
and policies, the truth is clearly seen: this President has
systematically put in place laws, policies, and bureaucracies that
can, are, and will continue to strip the American citizenry of the
constitutional protections of their liberties.
Following are examples of freedoms which President Bush and his
fellow Republicans in Congress have already expunged (as
reported by the Associated Press):
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor
religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal
activity to assist terror investigations.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once-
public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of
people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist
public records questions.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians
or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the
government subpoenaed information related to a terror
investigation.
RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may
monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys
and clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.
FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES:
Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects
without probable cause to assist terror investigation.
RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government
may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.
RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being
charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.
These rights have already been lost! Whether individual Americans
have been personally subjected to the resultant tyranny or not
doesn't change the fact that they have already lost these freedoms!
This fact, alone, should be enough for any studious lover-of-liberty
to be outraged!
That good men are compliant and unconcerned regarding G.W.
Bush's propensity to trample constitutional freedoms bespeaks a
great ignorance or a great apathy, or both!