Wake Up, America. You Are No Longer Free.

Well, it took just a bit longer than 10 years after 9/11, but our treasonous den of vipers in Washington, DC have finally gotten what they wanted: complete and utter control. Make no mistake about it, control was, and is, the end game here. The sad part about our complete loss of constitutional freedoms is that so many of them were willingly given up by the populace under the guise of safety. To be sure, it did not happen overnight, but in slow, deliberate steps. So, how did we get here?

The Patriot Act

Surely among the most ironically named pieces of legislation ever passed, the Patriot Act was seemingly conjured out of thin air weeks after the 9/11 attacks. This bill basically handed law enforcement carte blanche to carry out wiretaps and search personal or business records without a warrant in addition to indefinite detention of immigrants suspected of “terrorism”. Not to be overlooked, the Act also amended the definition of “terrorism” to include “domestic terrorism.”  How did Congress manage to write and authorize such a large and far-reaching law in just over a month? They didn’t. Congress sold this bill as a “temporary measure” due to expire in 2005, but it was re-authorized by George W. Bush in 2006, and again by President “Hope and Change” in 2011. Among the lessons to be learned here: Never let the government have “temporary powers.” Once they have them, they’re not giving them back. See also the income tax, which was also supposed to be temporary.

The TSA

Another gift courtesy of 9/11, this agency was created by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act in November, 2011. Since then, this army of otherwise unemployable high-school dropouts have become a national joke, having failed to stop ANY terrorist act, allowing multiple firearms through their grasp, all the while terrorizing innocent airline passengers by forcing them to undergo a virtual strip-search while being dosed with radiation or ripping out their colostomy bags and making elderly cancer patients remove their adult diapers. “But wait, Chris,” you might say (if you knew my name was Chris) “if you want to fly, then the government has the right to search you. If you don’t like it, don’t fly.” I don’t agree with you, but even if I did, wait! They are not confined to airports! You may have noticed them operating at transit terminals such as bus and/or rail stations. “No problem,” you are now thinking.” I’ll just hop in my good old automobile and hit the road like Chevy Chase in Vacation.” Well, not only are you not going to end up in a pool with a topless Christie Brinkley, but TSA now has the sinister-sounding VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) teams scouring the nation’s roadways. You could literally be stopped anywhere, anytime, for no reason whatsoever, just for trying to get from Point A to point B.

National Defense Authorization Act

The big enchilada. The end game. They say that those that don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Well, I’d like to call your attention to Germany, 1933, right after the Nazis took power and instituted their “extraordinary measures” to keep their homeland “safe”. The Bill of Rights is now effectively dead. Think about that for a second. For 220 years, American citizens could ostensibly rest easy, knowing that even if they were accused of a crime, they had rights guaranteed to them, most notably under the 4^th Amendment (unreasonable search and seizure, which has been DOA for many years now), the 5^th Amendment, which guarantees the right not to be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”, and the 6^th Amendment, which states “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”

Well, Congress, with the full backing of the executive branch, has taken the Bill of Rights and effectively wiped their collective asses with it. This bill now gives the government the right to indefinitely detain US citizens without trial, without specifying what charges, if any, are being leveled against them. Neoconservatives and Fox News watchers will say “So what? It’s only going to be used against terrorists, so what’s the big deal, you hippie?” The devil is in the details, specifically section 1031:

(a) In General.–Congress affirms that the authority of the President to use all necessary and appropriate force pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons (as defined in subsection (b)) pending disposition under the law of war.

(b) Covered Persons.–A covered person under this section is any person as follows:

(1) A person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored those responsible for those attacks. (2) A person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.

(c) Disposition Under Law of War.–The disposition of a person under the law of war as described in subsection (a) may include the following:

(1) Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force. (2) Trial under chapter 47A of title 10, United States Code (as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2009 (title XVIII of Public Law 111-84)). (3) Transfer for trial by an alternative court or competent tribunal having lawful jurisdiction. (4) Transfer to the custody or control of the person’s country of origin, any other foreign country, or any other foreign entity.

The part of the wording that disturbs me, in particular, is the phrase “belligerent act.” WTF is that supposed to mean exactly? It seems to me that it wouldn’t be a big stretch for the government to say that people leading protests, especially anti-war protests, are committing “belligerent acts.”

Remember a little while ago, when I invoked 1930’s Germany? Well, I wish to do so again. For such a mind-blowingly large deal as the death of the Bill of Rights, I would have expected more outrage from the public. Nary a peep. The media has done an excellent job dumbing down society to the point where we would rather watch a family of no-talent whores like the Kardashians embarrass themselves weekly on TV than take an interest in preserving our freedoms in the face of a government that grows more tyrannical by the day. It reminds me of this quote from German author Sebatian Haffner: “With sheepish submissiveness we watched it unfold, as if from a box at the theater. The German people collectively and limply collapsed, yielded and capitulated.”

Only 7 senators voted against this abomination, and they deserve to be mentioned by name, as patriots. All others are nothing short of traitors. If your senator voted for this, write a respectful note or a phone call telling them why you will be spearheading a charge to remove them from office.

Tom Coburn, (R), OK

Tom Harkin, (D), IA

Mike Lee, (R), UT

Jeff Merkely, (D), OR

Rand Paul, (R), KY

Bernie Sanders, (I), VT

Ron Wyden (D), OR