Longmont Citzens for Justice and Democracy

OP ED piece by David Rick

A Theft of Fundamental Liberties

On a brief trip to England some years ago, I found myself in a line of tourists filing past the Crown Jewels. It was an impressive display, but I eventually found my appreciation numbed by the sheer quantity of precious stones and fittings. From my side of the thick security glass, I wondered idly if the sudden disappearance of one or two of those many relics of monarchy might possibly pass unnoticed for weeks or even months.

Here in the world's longest enduring democracy, we are heirs to an even more valuable set of jewels. These are the individual rights and liberties enumerated in our Constitution. Among these are freedom of speech and of the press, freedom of association, of religion, and the right to be secure from unreasonable search and seizure. Our Constitution enumerates many others, and most of us would struggle to list them all without a bit of head scratching. If one or two of them were to suddenly go missing, how long would it take us to notice?

So far, it's taken two and a half years. Amid the smoke and sorrow after the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001, some of those things most precious to us as Americans did in fact go missing. The misleadingly named USA Patriot Act, passed with essentially no debate in the weeks after 9/11, was the opening salvo in what has developed into a broad-ranging attack on constitutional rights.

One casualty is the Fourth Amendment requirement that investigators show "probable cause" in order to obtain a search warrant. The Patriot Act eliminates this requirement for federal investigators who say the magic words "foreign intelligence". Got a pair of boxer shorts with a foreign flag on them? Inquiring minds may want to know what else is in your underwear drawer! If those inquiring minds work for the FBI, they can obtain a secret warrant from a secret court, and rifle your underthings without giving you prior notice.

Ever downloaded a copyrighted song from the net without paying for it? That's against the law, and it opens the door for the feds to watch every web page you visit. Legally speaking, they can't look at the content of those pages, but practically speaking, they can determine the content later by visiting the same web addresses. Perhaps your spouse has been researching foreign vacation spots. If the federal government decides you might be an "agent of a foreign power", they can stage a sneak raid on your home or office and take your hard drive without even leaving you a receipt. (They do have to tell you eventually.)

It's enough to make you want to do all your web browsing at the library, isn't it? Oops! Library records aren't safe either. They are now considered "business records", and can be obtained under the same secret court process described earlier. So can your medical and psychiatric records, your banking records, the videos you've rented and the books you've purchased. What's more, the holders of those records - the librarians, doctors and merchants you've trusted for years - can't tell you or anybody else that the Uncle Sam has come snooping.

Some of the scenarios described above may seem far-fetched. Many readers are certainly thinking, "I'm not a criminal and I'm not a terrorist, so I have nothing to be concerned about. The FBI isn't going to waste its time on me." U.S. history shows the opposite. From the 40's through the end of the Cold War, the FBI engaged thousands of instances of spying on ordinary, law-abiding citizens. Careers and marriages were ruined, and some victims ultimately committed suicide. These egregious abuses ultimately drew congressional attention, culminating in the Church committee hearings of the mid-70's. As a result, the FBI instituted a set of administrative rules restricting domestic spying. Despite these rules, "COINTELPRO" actions against peaceful religious and political activists (including some in Colorado) are known to have occurred into the 80's.

It's important to point out that the FBI's restrictions on domestic spying and related "dirty tricks" were matters of administrative policy, not of law. Now those policies are gone - Attorney General John Ashcroft put an end to them in May of 2002. Today, the FBI is again permitted to infiltrate domestic religious, civic and political groups, even when there is no evidence or suspicion that they are breaking any laws. We needn't look far to find the likely result: The existence of the recently-disclosed "Denver spy files", in which police classified non-violent church groups and peace activists as "criminal extremists" demonstrates once again that even well-intentioned law enforcement agencies can completely misunderstand the actions of ordinary citizens. The Patriot Act gives federal authorities the tools to turn misunderstanding into something much, much worse.

We dare not assume that the broad-ranging surveillance powers created by the USA Patriot Act will be used either wisely or fairly. Ultimately, it is up to the citizens of this country to protect the "crown jewels" of liberty embodied in the Bill of Rights. More than sixty cities (including Denver, Boulder, Detroit, and Oakland) have already passed resolutions establishing "civil liberties safe zones". Although local resolutions cannot repeal the Patriot Act, they can send a strong message to Congress and to the Justice Department that Americans want their constitutional liberties returned. Longmont should join in the chorus.

David L. Rick
Longmont

David Rick is a member of Longmont Citizens for Justice and Democracy, www.LongmontCitizens.org

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