One of the most consistent and vitriolic criticisms of the Bush administration concerned its hasty dismantling of individual liberties. President Bush, we were repeatedly told, did more to undo Constitutional freedoms than any five former presidents combined. Writing for the Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel, Chuck Baldwin wrote in February of 2005 that “the Bush administration has done more to dismantle constitutional protections of our liberties than any president in modern memory.” “Modern memory” being a somewhat imprecise term, we’ll give Mr. Baldwin a mulligan for letting slip the internment of tens of thousands of Americans of Japanese derivation during World War II. However, Mr. Baldwin’s critique of the Bush years has become self-evident truth, repeated with complete confidence and almost always without rebuttal. Defending President Bush is akin to arguing the merits of Nazism.
Still and all, I’ve enjoyed dozens of inward laughs when my liberal friends tried to name a few freedoms lost under W’s tyrannical hand. Without exception, real world examples of American fascism, Republican style, elude those who confidently parrot Mr. Baldwin’s assertions. Some time ago I asked a family friend who was vehemently denouncing Bush’s penchant for liberty smashing to name one example of such despotism. As seconds passed she became agitated before blurting out, “Well, it takes a lot longer to board airplanes than it used to.” Assuming my best professorial posture, I looked at her askance and replied, “I see.”
Interestingly, writers like Chuck Baldwin do not fair much better, though they have the benefit of days or weeks of preparation. Mr. Baldwin’s article does list several assaults on liberty, all of them related to the Patriot Act. In fairness, without question the Patriot Act expanded the government’s ability to collect information and monitor behavior, among other things. However, partisan criticism of the Bush administration for the Patriot Act’s excesses is disingenuous, for the Act passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support. On October 25, 2001, the U.S. Senate passed the bill 98 to 1 with 1 not voting. The only “Nay” tally came from Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, meaning Joe Biden, Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton, Tom Daschle, Chris Dodd, Dick Durbin, John Edwards, Dianne Feinstein, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Patrick Leahy, Harry Reid, and Chuck Schumer voted “Yea.” Across the country, the Patriot Act was welcomed with enthusiastic support, aimed as it was at preventing another 9/11. Only with the advent of BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) did the Patriot Act’s popularity wane, all of which brings me to the real assaults on liberty occurring in America.
As the left in America has successfully redefined patriotism, so it is now in the process of redefining liberty. Freedom liberal style is not, as yet, nearly as threatening as the perceived violations of citizenship thrust upon the nation by Republicans. Consveratives, the argument goes, want to determine where and Who you will worship, who you will marry, who you can carry on a private conversation with, and generally impose other equally weighty restrictions on self-determination. Liberals, on the other hand, only want to determine which car you drive and how much food you eat, according to the Office of the President-Elect. Think I’m kidding? Here are some new freedoms we’ll all warm up to over the next four years:
YOU ARE FREE TO ATTEND COLLEGE, with one small stipulation: Perform the required number of hours of community service first. “There are high schools across the country from which you cannot graduate,” reports Thomas Sowell, ”and colleges where your application for admission will not be accepted, unless you have engaged in activities arbitrarily defined as ‘community service.’” Mr. Sowell thinks young people and their parents should “decide how to use” the student’s time, asking, “What in the world qualifies teachers and members of college admissions committees to define what is good for society as a whole, or even for the students on whom they impose their arbitrary notions?” I suppose the answer is related to the old Marxist axiom, might makes right. They have the power, now you have the obligation.
YOU ARE FREE TO DRIVE THE ROADS IN RHODE ISLAND, as long as you pay “a new tax for each mile a vehicle is driven,” according to Bruce Landis of The Providence Journal. Along with new and higher fuel taxes and increased car registration fees, the new mileage fee “would be based on odometer readings reported by vehicle owners when they renew their registration. The mileage could be verified during mandatory auto inspections…” Also, tolls are being considered “at the state line on every interstate highway…” Welcome to Rhode Island — now pay up!
YOU ARE FREE TO CORRECTLY SEPARATE TRASH FROM RECYCLABLES, or pay a $500 fine! The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that Gwinnett County, including the city of Atlanta, is getting serious about saving landfill space. Too much trash in the recycle bin or too many recyclables in the trash bin just got expensive. “We don’t intend for this to be the garbage Gestapo,” said Connie Wiggins, executive director of Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, which is administering Gwinnett’s waste disposal program. “When fully implemented in July [2009], Gwinnett’s program will provide residents 35 recyclable items,” and they damn well better get in the correct container.
YOU ARE FREE TO OWN MORE THAN 25 DAIRY COWS, 50 BEEF CATTLE, OR 200 HOGS, as long as you pay a yearly flatulence fee [I'm not making this up]. The Associated Press says “Farmers are turning their noses up at the notion” of paying “an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.” At least now we know which animal passes the most gas. It seems the U.S. Supreme Court “ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution,” prompting the ever vigilant Environmental Protection Agency to propose the new fees. Farmers think the idea stinks.
Average Americans would do well to remember just who wants to control us with “a thousand silken threads.”
Posted by Jerry Pomeroy in Cultural Insanity, Limiting Government