by F.R. Duplantier
If Congress passes the so-called "anti-terrorism" bill now under consideration, Americans will experience "a profound loss of liberty."
"It is astounding to see the 104th Congress move to expand the power and intrusiveness of the federal government," says David Kopel of the Cato Institute. "These are the same Republicans sent to Congress to reduce the federal government's erosion of individual rights." Nevertheless, many of these avowed opponents of Big Government are supporting a bill that Kopel says would "turn Uncle Sam into Big Brother."
The House version of the proposed legislation would authorize federal agents to pry into the personal affairs of any American citizen, says Kopel, "without first obtaining a court order, and without even a suspicion that the individual is involved in criminal activity." Such invasions of privacy would be just the beginning, for the bill also "gives the president the power to label a group a 'terrorist organization' and make it a federal felony to support the legal activities of that group." The Justice Department's unsuccessful effort to prove the existence of a criminal conspiracy among pro- life organizations clearly indicates what sort of groups are likely to be targeted as "terrorists."
It gets worse. Kopel notes that "illegal wiretaps would be admissible in court, as long as the wire-tapping federal official was acting in 'good faith.'" How can the victim of an inquisition prove that his persecutor acted in bad faith? He can't. That's the point. The bill also contains "gun control legislation that could never pass this Congress on its own merits," says Kopel. "Currently it is illegal to sell someone a firearm if you know it will be used in a crime. This bill would apply a five-year sentence to cases in which the seller allegedly 'should' have known that the gun would be used in a crime." Standard background checks will no longer suffice, it seems. Will gun dealers now have to obtain psychological profiles of all potential customers? Will they be expected to detect that cliche of murder mysteries, the homicidal gleam in the eye?
Do you think that American legislators could never endorse warrantless searches, illegal wiretaps, presumption of guilt, detention without trial, unseen witnesses, or secret testimony? Alas, they already have, in the anti-terrorism bill pending in Congress. The Senate bill is worse; it demonstrates even less regard for our constitutionally-protected liberties. The Senate version of the bill, says David Kopel, "contains a number of seriously disturbing and dangerous provisions," including military involvement in local law enforcement, digital wiretapping capabilities, the reclassification of apolitical crimes as terrorism, and increased funding for the storm troopers at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Is the threat of terrorism really so great that we should give up many of our hard-won liberties to protect against it? Most Americans would not be happy with the result.
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