Protecting America

There are two major political parties in the United States: Thugs and Cowards. They masquerade as Republicans and Democrats, but today’s incarnations bear as little resemblance to the parties of Lincoln and Roosevelt (even Eisenhower and Johnson) as a giraffe does to a manatee.

Thugs will stoop to any depth to scare, browbeat, intimidate, vilify, or disparage anyone who disagrees with them. Think the war in Iraq was a bad idea? You’re a terrorist sympathizer who wants our brave troops not only to die, but to suffer first. Think we might want to consider raising enough money to pay for the myriad of pork projects written into law in the dark of night without any recorded votes? You’re an advocate of sending the working man to the poor house. Best plan for health care? Give all your money to private insurers and let them decide whether to provide care, or not.

Sounds pretty oppressive, doesn’t it? The Cowards are worse. A Coward never met a challenge he couldn’t back away from. This makes Cowards natural fodder for Thugs, since a Coward is an invertebrate that couldn’t stand up for what is right if he recognized it, which he’s afraid to do, because all viewpoints have value and merit in the eyes of a Coward. Wouldn’t want to invalidate someone’s true feelings. Sure, we believe in the Constitution, but the perspective of our Thug brethren has just as much validity, even though where the Bill of Rights says “yes” the Thugs say “no” and where the Bill of Rights says “no” the Thugs say “yes.” We may disagree in our hearts, but when it comes time to put our vote where our oath is, the word “threat” trumps “freedom” every time.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution is straightforward: 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.

It’s that ”no Warrants shall issue” part that hangs everyone up. Warrants require probable cause, and Thugs don’t want to fool around with that. They’ll decide who to search and seize, no impartiality required. How to get around that tricky language? Do away with warrants altogether.

Never mind that warrants have had a place in jurisprudence since the Magna Carta. Forget that we won two World Wars and the Cold War without disposing of them. This is different. A few thousand people died on one day six years ago; the values that made this country great must be put on hold so no more will join them. What about the hundreds of thousands who have died over the past two hundred-plus years to preserve that freedom? Brave men and women die in Iraq and Afghanistan every day, allegedly so we won’t have to fight here. Yet we freely sacrifice the liberties that make this country worth fighting for.

At the top of this page is a quote from a man who was largely responsible for the type of nation we once aspired to be. His words were never truer than they are now: Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security. All members of Congress swear an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. May those who voted for the Protect America Act spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders, for they have ensured none of us will truly know whether those who would prey upon us are foreign, or domestic.

For the Thugs, disdain, with a grudging respect for their ability to get their way. For the Cowards, nothing but contempt.