Attorney
General John Ashcroft was called before Congress yesterday to give testimony
regarding the unprecedented restrictions being placed upon the commonest
of American liberties. With the passage of the PATRIOT
Anti-Terror Bill, and through an Executive
Order signed by Bush authorizing secret military tribunals for suspected
terrorists, the latter of which was enacted with virtually no Congressional
oversight despite the fact that it seems to violate the spirit, if not
the letter of the Posse
Comitatus Act, Ashcroft had some things to answer for.

From
the beginning of his testimony, Ashcroft was defiant in the face of some
skeptical Democratic Senators. He waved a copy of an Al Qaeda terrorism
handbook in their faces as proof positive that no restriction of freedom
was too severe when considering the enemy he seeks.

In his
opening remarks, Ashcroft made the following statement:
"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."

There
is no plainer way to say it - this is rank demagoguery of a strain so
pure that it has not been heard in the political dialogue of this nation
since the dark days when Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy made careers
out of shattering innocent lives during highly publicized anti-communist
Congressional hearings in the 1950s.

In essence,
John Ashcroft claims that if you question the unprecedented steps he and
his Justice Department are taking, if you voice doubts about the concept
of destroying freedom in order to save it, if you step out of the narrow
line being drawn by he and Mr. Bush, you are a terrorist. If you dare
to participate in that most fundamental American activity - dissent -
you are aiding and abetting the murderous butchers who sent thousands
of our citizens to death three months ago.

No more
grave an accusation can be leveled in this time, and no more base and
groundless a charge can be or has been spoken. It is one thing to sit
for weeks and hold your tongue for fear of being called unpatriotic, as
many patriotic Americans did in the aftermath of September 11th. It is
another again to be called a terrorist for defending the sanctity of the
United States Constitution from men who come for it with erasers and redacting
tape.

Ashcroft
claims that there are people who are scaring Americans with "phantoms
of lost liberty." Let us examine some of these phantoms, and see if there
is any flesh on the bone.

The First
Amendment of the Constitution reads as follows: "Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances."

The idea
that it was unpatriotic to question Bush in the aftermath of September
11th received wide play and acclaim in the media, and still does in many
circles. This skirted the edges of free speech restrictions forbidden
by the First Amendment. Ashcrofts proclamation of December 6th, that anyone
who speaks out against his and Mr. Bush's plans, fairly defines the reason
this Amendment was created in the first place.

Patriotic
Americans will now fear to speak out against the government, the first
fundamental responsibility of any citizen, for fear of an accusation that
will taint them forever. It is intimidation in the raw of the first principle
- the right to speak your mind, and to defy authority when it has gone
awry.

The Fourth
Amendment to the Constitution reads as follows: "The right of
the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and
no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and
the persons or things to be seized."

Section
213 of the PATRIOT Anti-Terrorism Bill is entitled 'Authority for Delaying
Notice of the Execution of a Warrant.' Legal analysts have given this
provision a snappier title: the "sneak and peek" section. Under 213, Federal
officers can enter your home, search your belongings, and attach devices
to your personal computer that record and broadcast back to them any and
all keystrokes you make while online. They can do all of this without
ever letting you know they were there.

Ostensibly,
this provision is aimed at true-blue terrorists. We don't want them to
know we're watching. After Ashcroft's performance of December 6th, however,
any belief we may have that he or his department will restrain themselves
from using this provision to police ordinary Americans must be shaken
to the core. If you speak out against Ashcroft, you are a terrorist. The
next logical step is that you will therefore be treated like one.

The Sixth
Amendment to the Constitution reads as follows: "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 defense."

One of
the main reasons Ashcroft was ordered to appear before Congress was because
of Bush's recent Executive Order authorizing the use of secret military
tribunals to try - and potentially order the execution of - anyone suspected
of being a terrorist. This is troubling on its face - secret trials with
secret evidence followed by secret judgments.

Read
the Executive Order closely, however. The section entitled 'Definition
and Policy' describes what manner of suspect would come before the tribunal:

"(a)
The term 'individual subject to this order' shall mean any individual
who is not a United States citizen with respect to whom I determine from
time to time in writing that:

(1)
there is reason to believe that such individual, at the relevant times,
(i) is or was a member of the organization known as al Qaida; (ii) has
engaged in, aided or abetted, or conspired to commit, acts of international
terrorism, or acts in preparation therefor, that have caused, threaten
to cause, or have as their aim to cause, injury to or adverse effects
on the United States, its citizens, national security, foreign policy,
or economy; or (iii) has knowingly harbored one or more individuals described
in subparagraphs (i) or (ii) of subsection 2(a)(1) of this order;

and
(2) it is in the interest of the United States that such individual be
subject to this order."

It is
(2) that gives pause. There are some 20 million non-citizens occupying
and working in this country right now. They could be arrested, detained,
tried and convicted in secret if someone decides "it is in the interest
of the United States." If John Ashcroft, whose idea of treason extends
to questioning his highly questionable actions, is representative of the
attitude being brought to this anti-terrorism endeavor, the precepts laid
out in the Sixth Amendment have suddenly turned appallingly fragile.

One last
thought: considering the lengths Ashcroft seems willing to go in order
to stifle dissent, one wonders how difficult it would be to strip someone
like you or I of our citizenship if we yell a bit too loudly. We would
then be subject to (2) as well. If we have learned anything in the last
three months, we have learned that the only thing sure to happen is the
previously inconceivable.

The phantoms
Mr. Ashcroft so arrogantly disparaged seem to have some significant substance,
after all.

It comes
to this: At the bottom, America is an idea, one represented and defended
by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Amendments listed above.
Destroy the idea and you have destroyed the nation. If we are to believe
the hyperbole of the administration, those who attacked us on September
11th did so because they despise our freedoms. To destroy those freedoms
in response to the attack is tantamount to surrender.

I am
not ready to surrender. Are you? Is Ashcroft? Is Bush? If not, then there
are other motives at work here. Power, after all, is always hungry and
in search of more territory to annex. Thus has it always been, which is
why those Amendments are so vital.

Fascism
is defined as, "A system of government marked by centralization
of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression
of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy
of belligerent nationalism."

The only
thing probable is the unimaginable now. This definition cuts too close
to the bone. The time has come to stand up and say no to this slow evisceration
of the idea that is America, to say no to men like Ashcroft who hold our
essential freedoms in such contempt.

Never
forget that it was Ashcroft, in the earliest iteration of the Anti-Terrorism
bill, who advocated the
suspension of habeas corpus. If there is a beating heart within the
body of laws that protect our freedoms, habeas corpus is it. That alone
should be enough to rouse us all.

I intend
to challenge, at every opportunity, the assertion by Mr. Ashcroft that
dissention is equal to terrorism. I intend to continue my questioning
of his contra-Constitutional program of restrictions until they are stopped.
I beg you to do the same.

I offer
you the opportunity to add your name and voice to this fight. Send me
an email williamriverspitt (at) hotmail.com">here, and
I will place your name on a list to appear on this website. By giving
me your name, you sign a document that states your opposition to Ashcroft's
Constitutional revisions while denouncing him for daring to call you a
terrorist.

You are
an American patriot. Stand up and be counted as one.

It is
entirely possible that there will be trouble for you if you do this. Any
fight for freedom has costs, and I cannot promise that you will not be
made to pay for daring to speak your American mind here.

All I
can promise is this: You will have done the right thing.

Stand
up.