June 25, 2002
What the hell is happening to my country?
I just read this story on ABCNews.com, which reveals that the FBI now has the ability to request patrons' records from public libraries. Even worse, when the FBI contacts a public library, the library is prohibited by law from revealing what the request was.
Great! That's just great. What next? Are they going to canvas all the bookstores in America to make sure nobody is buying terrorist-related books? Are they going to get records from the Safeway Club Card program and arrest everybody who seems to be stocking up on drinking water and packing tape? Actually, they probably already are doing those things. And if they do arrest you on "terrorist-related charges", you might as well kiss the outside world goodbye, because apparently it is now OK for our government to hold AMERICAN CITIZENS indefinitely for any reason they feel like.
What is going on here? How is this even possible? The US government is currently stomping all over the Constitution, and nobody even seems to care! I fail to see how requesting patron records from public libraries is going to prevent the next terrorist attack. That's beside the point, though. I am going to say something incredibly unpopular right now, but it's what I feel:
Even if it prevents a possible terrorist attack, it is not worth giving up our liberties as US citizens. If we just sit idly by and watch as all of our liberties and freedoms are chiseled away, I don't think we have the right to call ourselves Americans anymore. Is it OK for airlines to search people's shoes, to prevent a terrorist attack? Is it OK for the FBI to put a wiretap on your house to prevent a terrorist attack? Is it OK for the FBI to know every book that you checked out from the library in the last two years? Is it OK for the FBI to arrest someone and hold them indefinitely just because they might be a terrorist? What about if they just know someone who might be a terrorist and refuse to talk?
It is not OK! It is so not OK!
I will admit to you that on September 12, I wanted nothing more than for us to find whoever blew up our World Trade Center and bomb them into oblivion. But instead, the government seems to have turned its eye inward. Instead of searching for the perpetrators of a vicious crime, they are searching for future terrorists among us. Look out; your neighbor might be a terrorist! And it's OK for us to request the library records and phone records and shopping records of possible terrorists, right?
Yeah, it's OK until it stops being them and starts being you. Where do we draw the line? Freedom can't just be for a few people, and it can't be for some of the people, and it can't even be for most of the people. Freedom has to be for all of the people, or what we have isn't freedom at all. America is still the home of the brave, but I'll be damned if I can bring myself to call it the "land of the free" anymore.