For those who see America as a place — you know, amber waves of grain and purple mountains majesty — the country is still here, although somewhat overexploited and overcrowded. But, for those who see America as an idea, you know, that personal freedom is the essential element in human happiness and self-realization, the country is fading away.
That idea of personal freedom is embodied in the Constitution, especially in the Bill of Rights, and has made America worth the sacrifices in blood of many thousands of people since 1775. The Constitution is intended to protect personal freedom from the power of government, a power that throughout human history has tended toward abuse and tyranny, a tendency from which not even America is immune.
Last month’s attempt by Congress to slip into the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 language that would have allowed the military to, within the nation’s borders, seize U.S. citizens suspected as terrorists and detain them indefinitely without right to trial is clear evidence that the tendency toward tyranny is alive and well in America.
While the attempt failed (this time) and the language was removed, there are still many in Congress who openly believe that the president should and does have the power to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism in the United States. These “patriots” claim that they will have enough votes in Congress to eventually pass legislation giving the president such autocratic, extra-constitutional power.
If that comes about, the only defense for Americans will be a U.S. Supreme Court willing to enforce the Constitution, something it has not always done. For example, in 1943 it upheld the forced internment of Japanese-Americans, which was clearly an egregious violation of constitutional rights.
Who are these unabashed underminers of civil rights? Ironically, most of them are the clamorous Cassandras who are always wailing and warning about the evils of big government. Yet, when does government become bigger than when it has the arbitrary power to deprive anyone it chooses of freedom? And, certainly, being locked away in some cell without recourse is, next to execution, the greatest loss of freedom.
But, here they are at the forefront of the attack against the most fundamental ideals of America. They have always been among us, these misguided patriots, these self-appointed protectors of the spacious skies and fruited plains — always willing to nullify constitutional rights at the first sign of trouble.
They passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 that, among other things, effectively made it a crime to publicly criticize the government, even though the First Amendment protects freedom of speech. During the Civil War they allowed President Abraham Lincoln to prohibit by decree free speech critical of the war and of Lincoln’s policies. In 1941, they allowed FDR to systematically round up thousands of Japanese-American citizens and place them in concentration camps even though the Constitution suspends the writ of habeas corpus only in cases of rebellion or invasion.
In 1971, they were willing accomplices with President Richard M. Nixon declaring war on drugs and zealously pursuing criminalization of a victimless personal choice. And, of course, after 9/11, these ghouls of government power quickly passed the insidiously named “Patriot Act” that clearly violates several constitutional rights as it pushes the nation ever further into a police state.
The U.S. Constitution has no intrinsic magical powers that protect civil rights and deter government’s abuse of power. If it is not enforced, it is only a worthless insurance policy against tyranny. It must be assiduously defended by the nation’s citizens, who must insist on the integrity of its fundamental principles of personal freedom and civil rights. Contortionist interpretations that diminish those principles to bless some convenient overreach of government power eventually erode America, the idea.
As important as it is for our beleaguered public schools to teach reading, writing and arithmetic, it is equally important for them to teach civics — namely the Constitution. Raising good Americans is more than having them recite the Pledge of Allegiance; it is their having a thorough understanding of why that allegiance is merited. They must know their constitutional rights and the limits on government power.
The American Civil Liberties Union can often be controversial, especially when it defends aspects of constitutional freedoms that make some people uncomfortable. But America is not about making busybodies happy or enforcing anyone’s ideas of personal morality. It is about allowing individual freedom within reasonable limits that prohibit direct, real harm to others.
America needs citizens courageous enough to insist on freedom, not citizens who quickly surrender to fear and give away their rights whenever a threat — real or manufactured — presents itself.
America is more than a place, it is an idea — an idea that requires courage and constant vigilance.
— Santa Barbara political observer Randy Alcorn can be contacted at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Click here to read previous columns.
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