January 13, 2012

“Supporting ‘terrorism’ would be an expatriating act…  Decades ago, the greatest threat to our national security was posed by foreign states.  Today, however, international terror networks, like Al Quaeda, have equaled, and in some cases exceeded the threat posed by foreign states.”

[Direct link to video if embed fails]

This is what it looks like when your rights disappear.  Don’t you love it?  He’s got these creepy, blank, framed stock photos of archetypal “Americana” in the background, devoid of the faces of real human beings, which contrasts beautifully with the fact that he’s proposing legislation which could enable a fascist takeover of the United States.  (Warning: graphic image below)

We are not at war.  Has congress declared war?  Are any foreign states at war with us?  Of course not.

By definition, the fact that we are not at war means that other states are not hostile to us.  They threaten us no more than a next-door-neighbor who owns a kitchen knife.  There’s nothing out of the ordinary when, in a time of peace, a group of terrorists presents a bigger threat than countries.  This has been the case for decades, but now, today, our politicians are using erroneous logic to justify the destruction our civil liberties.

The word “war” has been twisted and manipulated by our leaders to mean whatever is momentarily convenient.  War once meant war.  Nations mobilized, and waged industrialized, directed violence at one another. Terrorism is the work of extremists, war is the work of states; this distinction has been forgotten in America.

This same linguistic flexibility will be applied to the buzzword in this law: terrorism.  Anyone’s citizenship could be stripped, literally, for any reason.  The word terrorism will be like a bullet.  After its definition has been gutted (as occurred with the word “war”), it will become meaningless, and citizens will fire this bullet at each other daily.

Want to march with Occupiers or Tea Partiers?  Instead of being held overnight in a county jail after your next protest, you could be waterboarded in a secret prison and held for life.

What I don’t understand is this – we’re done with Iraq.  No one can solve Afghanistan, and we need to get out of there too.  We killed Osama.  Why, now, after things are winding down, are our rights so blatantly being stripped?

1.) SOPA will usher in a new era of government censorship.  In the name of protecting music industry executives and other members of the wealthiest 1% of society, congress is on the cusp of making it a felony to stream copyrighted wrong videos (whether you knew it was illegal or not).

2.) The NDAA allows American citizens to be arrested by the military and held indefinitely.  Though a broad interpretation of a 2001 law would suggest that the military already had this power, what’s different now is that this agressive interpretation is codified into law, enabling a future broad interpretation of the NDAA to strip citizens of even more rights.

3.) Now, the proposed EEA bill would carry things the farthest, and completely remove the citizenship of Americans. In the words of Ron Paul, one of the few trustworthy politicians left:

Yes – you can be stripped of your citizenship for “engaging in, or purposefully and materially supporting, hostilities against the United States”. Well, what is a hostility? Is it being a member of the Tea Party? Someone who participates in the Occupy Wall Street movement? Someone who invests in lead, silver, and gold? A person running for Congress as a Constitutionalist? You see, the devil lies in the definition of “hostility” – because who is defining it other than the people in charge of enforcing the law? [source]

Despite their record low-approval rating, congress now wants to remove your citizenship, at any time, and for any reason.  ”Terrorism” is a joke word.  It justifies any abuse of American rights and freedoms.  Congress has made the philosophical mistake of allowing justifications to get in the way of principles.  Principles like freedom.

There needs to be a constitutional amendment to punish politicians who submit treasonous legislation like the EEA.