Be thankful for our freedoms – we may not have them much longer…

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, and it is appropriate to give thanks for our material blessings (most of us do have enough – or too much – to eat, clothes on our backs, and a roof over our heads); and for the remaining freedoms of speech, press, and assembly.

However, Ralph E. Shaffer and R. William Robinson of the Baltimore Sun reported November 19, that a bill in the U.S. Senate seriously threatens those freedoms. Known as the “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act,” the bill currently rests in the Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Sen. Joseph Lieberman. The Sun says that “swift Senate passage appears certain.”

Rep. Jane Harman (D-California) introduced the act to avert an anticipated “native brand of terrorism in the immediate future,” and “offers a plan to deal with ideologically based violence.” She wants to create a commission with investigative power and a mandate to propose laws prohibiting “homegrown terrorism.” However, in its power to hold hearings (which may be called by individual members), the commission is very likely to operate in the same manner as Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s. Clearly, such a commission would pose a dire threat to even the most non-violent secessionists.

The Act is both unnecessary and dangerous. Crime is crime. If violence is committed, arrest the perpetrators and mete out justice for the crime. But don’t use the “hate crime” logic of attempting to judge what is in the heads of dissidents. A strict-constructionist Supreme Court would immediately strike such an act down as violating the First and Fourth Amendments – but we can’t count on such a Court right now.

Please contact your Senators and urge them to oppose the “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Act,” at least in its investigatory provisions.

Ohio’s Senators may be reached by e-mail at:
George Voinovich: http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

Sherrod Brown: http://brown.senate.gov/contact/