The Patriot Act- A Revolutionary Solution

In recent days the American media has been reporting the debate on the coming renewal of the unconstitutional PATRIOT Act. This act passed in October 2001, was the frightened and knee jerk response of the US Congress in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Now "conservative" Republicans want to renew the act as a "tool" to fight terrorism.

Let's be clear. The PATRIOT Act is an unconstitutional law fulfilling the wishes of statists on both the left and right. The terrible violations of the BIll of Rights in the bill and the power usurped by the Federal government are all things that both Left and Right pined for for years. " Sneak and Peek" searches, no knock warrant authority, no judicial oversight, and the huge violations of citizens personal privacy are just a few of the act's horrendous provisions. Republicans, who have elevated President Bush to the status of a monarch, defend the act as necessary to fight "evildoers" and "enemies". Sadly, as in all legislation not properly debated and thought out, it is the American citizen who is in the crosshairs of the law, not terrorists. The PATRIOT Act is the trojan horse of the statists and their minions. Be fearful when they tell us it is to "protect" us. Next a law will be passed to disarm all of us, reinstitute a military draft, and encourage us to inform on our fellow citizens, all in the name of protecting us.

Again, as I have pointed out in my previous essays, if we follow our revolutionary history we find ways of combating such tyranny. In 1765 numerous colonial legislatures nullified the Stamp Act, declaring it unconstitutional and a violation of the British Constitution. Private organizations like the Sons of Liberty formed , rallying the populace against the Stamp Act. Handbills were circulated, newspaper articles were printed and petitions were submitted to Parliament urging repeal of the onerous legislation.

In 1767 the colonial people were again stirred by the Sons of Liberty, and their own legislatures to oppose the Townsend Acts as violations of English liberty and the natural rights of mankind. Again, private groups and some public servants rallied the people to oppose all encroachments on their liberty. This continued in 1773 against the Tea Act, and 1774 agaisnt the Coercive Acts both brutal infingements on the liberty and natural rights of the colonists. Revolutionary committees were formed, private individuals orgainized, and colonial legislatures again declared acts of Parilament unconstitutional. All of these events eventually led to the culmination of American independence.

Even with the new US Government the spirit of liberty was not dead. In 1798 the Federalist Party along with the support of President John Adams passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. These tyrannical Acts were an attempt to silence the Jeffersonians and their press who opposed Adams and the centralizing Federalists. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison authored the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions opposing the despotism of the Federalists and the Adams administration. Both Virginia and Kentucky's legislatures rallied for liberty and the true principles of our government and passed the resolutions. As in 1776, private groups and individuals began to rally, the Jeffersonian press was emboldened, and the spirit of the American Revolution reactivated.

We need this type of revolutionary spirit today. Today we face a larger, more powerful central government backed by the best technology and a standing military. We need to rally our state legislatures and public servants. We need to "rekindle the spirit of 1776" as Jefferson stated. We need to take a stand against the Patriot Act or any other liberty destroying laws enacted. We, the People, need to be reactivated. We must send a message to our politicians that such liberty destroying laws, even in the name of fighting terrorism, are unacceptable. They are unecessary and unconstitutional. If we do not, these encroachments on our liberty will end up in a complete dictatorship.

Statists on both the left and right, like sharks, smell blood. This blood is the blood of liberty being spilled, and they are preparing to devour the carcass. The Republicans, eager to ratchett the Divine Right of Kings on us, want nothing less than the total surrender of our liberty to the Federal government. The Democrats, supinely sit by and whine, all the while panting for their own liberty destroying laws.

If we want liberty, and freedom, WE must take it back from our rulers. No ruling class has ever given up it's power voluntarily. The Patriot Act is just one more law designed to impose the ruling elite's control over the American populace. I believe our revolutionary past provides the remedy for our afflicaion of encroaching despotism.

Recently the Montana House of representatives approved a bill denouncing the PATRIOT Act and ordering Montana law enforcement officers to refuse to enforce or apprehend people accused under it. The bill passed 88-12. The 12 Republican Tories should be denounced in the strongest terms and language. They are the type of politicians enamored of power and those who hold it. The resolution is very encouraging, though. This is exactly the type of true patriotism we need. So, let's get with it, and begin the process of liberating, not Iraq, but ourselves.