"To what purpose are
powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing, if
these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be
restrained?" John Marshall.
In almost surreptitious fashion, by the nearly
unanimous passing of another un-debated bill, the Federal government has trod
roughshod over several of our most basic freedoms.
The problem with the seemingly innocuous title: ‘‘Federal Restricted
Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011’, is that it has damn little to do
with pointing the bricks and sprucing up the landscaping, and everything to do
with limiting the First Amendment. It gives authority to the Secret
Service to decide arbitrarily who does and doesn’t have access to the
sight and hearing of the President, and other officials under their protection, by making it a Federal offense to be within any perimeter that they deign to establish.
No matter where on the political
spectrum you reside, this is a chilling prospect. Handing over the
'context' under which we can express ourselves to arbitrary authority
confers an unconstitutional control over the content. Free speech and the right of assembly are now at
the sole discretion of the head of some politician’s security detail. If they don’t want to hear you, or don’t want
you in view of the cameras, you can now be forced away under threat of a prison
sentence.
Are we merely to trust in the
assurance that the intention is only to provide security, and that we won’t be silenced?
I think not. When our rights are at issue the only safe course is to
assume that the worst case scenario is inevitable.
10 comments:
Ya, I sent that link around and most people thought it was a little over fearful to dismay over it, but all agreed that they'd feel a lot better if Obama wasn't in charge and that law passed.....the slippery slope thing's become as fast and slippery as a luge, hasn't it.
Honestly, I don't know what to make of it...yes, the Secret Service now apparently reads our minds, knows out motivations and calls the shots. (unless they're busy with prostitutes, that is!)
Z: "...most people thought it was a little over fearful to dismay over it..."
I think the response to a charge of over fearful is Kissinger's retort: "The question isn't whether or not we're being paranoid, the question is are we being paranoid enough?"
Every time the regime usurps yet another Constitutional right of the people, most Americans just say, "Okay." I fail to understand why the level of apathy is so great.
They either don't see any possibility that it will affect them, or they're cheering that it affects those they disagree with. The position attributed to Voltaire: "I disagree with what you say but I will defend to death your right to say it", takes a much broader view, and a far deeper commitment to freedom.
Viburnum,
They either don't see any possibility that it will affect them, or they're cheering that it affects those they disagree with.
It MUST be one of those two.
About the latter, what springs to my mind: "First they came for..."
AOW: "First they came for..."
"... and there was no one left to speak for me." As I said, a chilling prospect.
"..the question is are we being paranoid enough?"
with this regime...you're absolutely right, so was Kissinger.
Z: "...the question is are we being paranoid enough?" with this regime...you're absolutely right
It's hard to tell. What I found even more disturbing than a bill passed with no hearings, no debate, and signed into law without any sort of fanfare was the title. Who, glancing through the listings of pending legislation, could have derived the implications from the name? ‘‘The Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011" ?
How many more 'stealth' bills infringing our freedoms are out there? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Well look folds, if you are all good little do-bees you have nothing to fear.
I doubt any of you has ever stepped out of line in his/her life. Don't worry.
Ducky: "Don't worry."
Aren't you the same guy whose film class got rousted by the cops on May Day? It's just more of the same, and I'm as worried for you as I am for me. That wasn't right, this isn't right, and there's no reason not to raise hell about it.
As for being a do-bee, I outgrew Romper Room back when Eisenhower was President and I've stepped out of and over lots of lines since then. ;-)
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