The erosion of liberty

Based on a personal letter to a potential employer in the United States government.

I believe that the United States of America has the worst possible system of government — except for all the others that have been tried.

Seriously, I believe it is quite possible that we have the most noble government that has ever existed, both in abstract philosophical terms and in practical reality. I believe that the United States Constitution is a document worth dying for. I am, by and large, proud to be an American.

With the possible exception of the Civil War, I believe the worst threat this nation has ever faced is the Patriot Act.

Without the basic protections guaranteed in our Bill of Rights, we cease to be the United States of America. I believe that President Bush violated his oath to defend the Constitution when he signed the Patriot Act into law, and I believe that Congress and the Supreme Court are as much to blame for allowing it to stand (and enacting related legislation such as the Military Commissions Act).

I also believe that our refusal to abide by the Geneva Conventions and other international treaties has cost us the moral high ground in the international arena, perhaps irrevocably.

The principles of our Constitution and Bill of Rights are too tightly interwoven into our society to be eroded away easily or quickly. But that does not mean they are invulnerable. The Patriot Act launched us onto a slippery slope from which there are (in my opinion) only two possible outcomes: repentance, or the ultimate end of our society as we know it. No outside power will ever destroy us, I believe, unless we first destroy ourselves.

Some will argue, correctly, that America's past has hardly been unblemished. Let's look at some of the worst offenders:

• Slavery: Reprehensible. And yet, progress has been more-or-less steadily in the right direction, from abolishing slavery, to guaranteeing racial equality under law, to gradually seeing the reality fulfilled in society (not intending to imply that we're entirely there yet).
• Internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII: Despicable. But least it was known to be for a fixed duration, until the end of armed hostilities. While the damage may never be reversed, as least it has not been repeated.
• McCarthyism: Shameful. But the foolishness was ultimately disavowed, both in the Supreme Court, and in society at large (although not by everyone).
  

There is no foreseeable end to the circumstances of global terrorism that led to the Patriot Act and similar offenses. They will not automatically go away once peace is signed.

There is some hope that whichever new administration takes office in 2009 will set things right. I fervently hope so. Bottom line, however, this is not just about one administration. The American people, through our elected leaders, chose to undermine our nation's greatest strength: our freedoms. The Supreme Court needs to speak, and Congress needs to act, to right the wrong.

You and I have little control over the courts, but we have a voice in Congress. Please write to your elected representatives, and ask them to restore the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Related posts:

• Balance of power, Nov 21, 2005
  
• Why I am a patriot, July 30, 2005