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| An American flag behind barbed wire, and all that implies, 06/15/09. (photo: Public Domain) |
15 January 12
Below is today's column in the Sunday Washington Post. The column addresses how the continued rollbacks on civil liberties in the United States conflicts with the view of the country as the land of the free. If we are going to adopt Chinese legal principles, we should at least have the integrity to adopt one Chinese proverb: "The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names." We seem as a country to be in denial as to the implications of these laws and policies. Whether we are viewed as a free country with authoritarian inclinations or an authoritarian nation with free aspirations (or some other hybrid definition), we are clearly not what we once were.
Every year, the State Department issues reports on
individual rights in other countries, monitoring the passage of
restrictive laws and regulations around the world. Iran, for example,
has been criticized for denying fair public trials and limiting privacy,
while Russia has been taken to task for undermining due process. Other
countries have been condemned for the use of secret evidence and
torture.
Even as we pass judgment on countries we consider
unfree, Americans remain confident that any definition of a free nation
must include their own - the land of free. Yet, the laws and practices
of the land should shake that confidence. In the decade since Sept. 11,
2001, this country has comprehensively reduced civil liberties in the
name of an expanded security state. The most recent example of this was
the National Defense Authorization Act, signed Dec. 31, which allows for
the indefinite detention of citizens. At what point does the reduction
of individual rights in our country change how we define ourselves? READ MORE
...Nor "home of the brave" apparently, since we've given up our cherished rights and therefore freedom, in exchange for promises of safety that can never be realized.
ReplyDeleteWould you rather be free or safe? That is the question, because you cannot be both!