Coastal
Post Online
January,
2004
Dismantling US Democracy
By Charles Levendosky
International
Herald Tribune
There's a disturbing irony in a US
administration that claims it intends to establish democracy in Iraq - yet all
the while systematically dismantling democracy at home.
Access to information about government
actions, the ability to share that information with other citizens and the
right to protest government policies are all fundamental to a representative
democracy.
Open government and open records are not
popular concepts with the Bush administration. Yet they are essential to a
citizenry that wishes to participate in helping the government select a wise
direction in both domestic and foreign policies.
Attorney General John Ashcroft, with the
blessing of the Bush administration, has stifled the flow of information and
its sharing-in the name of national security.
Crucial government Web sites have been shut
down. Access to presidential records has been dramatically limited. Freedom of
Information Act requests for government documents have been denied or the
documents heavily blacked out.
The president and the attorney general have
both refused to give proper congressional committees the information they have
requested. These House and Senate committees are supposed to exercise oversight
in regard to the Department of Justice.
President George W. Bush has forced
peaceful protesters into so-called Free Speech Zones-out of sight and hearing
of the president - as he passes by in his motorcade. Only those cheering citizens who support Bush and his policies
are allowed curbside to be seen by the president.
Ten days before the massive Washington
demonstration against the war in Iraq on Oct. 25, the FBI circulated an
internal bureau bulletin noting the scheduled demonstrations in Washington and
San Francisco. It corroborates what many had already suspected: The FBI has
mounted a nationwide operation to collect intelligence on demonstrators.
The bulletin ends by telling law
enforcement agencies to "report any potentially illegal acts to the
nearest FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force." In major cities around the
nation, the FBI has set up Joint Terrorism Task Forces staffed with local law
enforcement officers as well as FBI agents.
The terrorism task forces' spying eyes are
active in cities like Denver, Portland, Oregon, and Fresno, California. The New
York City Police Department arrested peaceful antiwar demonstrators earlier
this year and questioned them about
their political affiliations. The practice was finally stopped by public
criticism.
More ominously, the Nov. 23 Los Angeles
Times quoted Air Force General Ralph Eberhart, commander of the newly-created
Northern Command, the military's homeland security arm: "We must start
thinking differently," he said, alluding to citizens not focusing on
"the home game."
Terrorism at home would activate the
Northern Command's military operations. So, despite the 1878 Posse Comitatus
Act, Americans might find their streets patrolled by combat troops. The Posse
Comitatus Act prohibits the direct use of federal troops "to execute the
laws" of the United States - unless the president declares a state of
emergency.
In a recent interview, now retired General
Tommy Franks, who led the US military invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, told
the men's lifestyle magazine Cigar Aficionado
that if the United States were hit with a weapon of mass destruction that
inflicted large casualties, the Constitution would probably be discarded in
favor of a form of military government.
Such a statement from a former four-star
general may be meant to prepare the American people for the end of their
constitutional form of government, the end of democracy. Because Franks said
it, however, doesn't mean it will happen. The Constitution has survived more
than 200 years of wars and serious threats to the nation. Franks's statement
may be a scare tactic or a political trial balloon to see how the American
public reacts.
In either case, the general's comment
reveals his own doubts about the inner strength and will of the American
people-to uphold the rule of law and to trust the document that has made their
nation great, the US Constitution.
The writer is the editorial page editor of
the Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming
Copyright
© 2003 the International Herald Tribune