Canterbury Tales: What’s in a name — more than you think
What’s in a name?
Judas, for example, is rarely used anymore because of its biblical connection to the betrayal of Christ. Benedict Arnold has come to mean traitor. Yuri is used when referring to a spy. Kleenex represents all brands of facial tissue and Xerox is now a verb meaning to photocopy.
In the last couple of years Americans have been inundated with monikers that evoke a certain sentiment. Like 9/11 for instance, who can say 9/11 without thinking of where they were on that day? How about “Homeland Security?” Sounds good doesn’t it? Axis of Evil comes to mind, Coalition of the Willing, and the list goes on and on.
The name that puzzles me most, however is USA Patriot Act. Wow does that sound lofty! It inspires pride in this land of ours. But just what is so patriotic about it? The name is an acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. The USA Patriot Act increases government jurisdiction, without providing checks and balances to protect civil liberties. As I read through the act it occurred to me that it is more like an infringement on my rights, as guaranteed by our constitution, than a means of keeping us safe from terrorists.
In fact, as it is written, the act seems to be a license to terrorize the American people. For example, if any government agency suspects you of terrorist activities, they can come to your house and search it, whenever they want. They can tap your phone, read your e-mail and monitor the books you get at the library. That’s right, reading the wrong library book can get you in a world of, well you get it.
They don’t need a regular warrant either, thanks to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. FISA provides emergency warrants to investigate anyone who may or may not be an agent of a foreign power, and it completely overrides the right of protection under the fourth amendment against illegal search and seizure.
Now if people can be convinced that Saddam Hussein himself caused 9/11 and that he is still hiding “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” (another good one!) how hard do you think it will be to convince people on the payroll and in the pockets of the U.S. government that Joe Schmo from Kokomo is plotting a massive terrorist attack because he rented a U-Haul and stopped at the hardware store for some Scotts Weed n’ Feed on the way home? I bet it will be pretty easy.
Here’s how easy, in 1979, 207 FISA warrants were approved, and the number grew slowly until USA Patriot came along. Following its passage into law, the number skyrocketed to 1724 in 2003. You can check the statistics, but that is a pretty sharp increase in the amount of McCarthy-esque spying going on around this country.
The beauty of it all is that an amendment to FISA in 1994 allows “covert physical entries,” in English that means they can come into your home or office and search for whatever they want, put everything back the way it was and you don’t even have to know about it. Creepy!
The fact is, despite the name, we may be less safe than ever. Terrorists aren’t breaking in, the government is. The truth is we lost something the day they passed the USA Patriot Act, and we moved closer than ever to the kind of government from which our forefathers fought to free us.
The bottom line is, before we are caught, hook, line and sinker, by another brilliant bit of marketing genius like USA Patriot Act, we had better start asking questions of our government, or we could find ourselves right in the middle of 1984, instead of the beginning of 2005.
Ingrid Canterbury is a reporter for the Standard who can be reached at 473-2191.