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It seems all the government must do to deny due process is just label an individual or a group "terrorist".
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Yep, it today's boogeyman. Yesterday it was something else, and tomorrow it will be something else yet again.
The devil is always in the details, and its not what they do today that matters so much with proposed law, and court decisions, but what the language used will
legally allow them to do tomorrow.
The liberal left (and a small number of the right) screamed bloody murder, figuratively, over what the Patriot act allowed the Bush administration to legally do. Now that their side rules the roost, they aren't making nearly so much noise about it.
Language in proposed law as far back as the 94 AWB era mentioned the "leaderless terrorist cell", defining it so broadly that any two or three of us getting together and discussing literally anything the people in power found threatening could be so classified. There are official public lists, and there are secret lists, and these are very dangerous things for the liberty of the people. Because is nearly always goes like this: The King is a decent man, and we trust him with all power. The King's son may be a decent man, and we are concerned over his use of the King's power. But the King's grandson is almost invariably a lout and we must endure his misuse of the King's power.
Our Founders created the best system they could with their knowledge of man's nature, and the technology of their time. We were given a republic, a representative democracy, so that we might more readily avoid the pitfalls of man's nature to act rashly in haste.
Because of the transportation technology of the era, there was always time to reflect on and deliberate the benefits of, and need for any action. This went a long way (although not always enough) to mitigate against the rash actions of the mob mentality.
ONE MONTH after 9/11 we were "at war on terror" and the Patriot act was to be one of the important weapons. Freely and easily passed (although to be fair, there were objections) because as a nation we were ******, and wanted very badly to do something to strike back. We eagerly bought the bill of goods (which I'm sure had basically been prepared well beforehand), because those we trusted told us it was needed, and for the best.
Now, today, it seems that the govt is constantly still seeking ever more power over us all, and everything we might think, do, and say.
Once they get a framework in place, (and most of it is there now), all it takes is some faceless, nameless bureaucrat to put your name on a list, and the hammer of the gods can now be dropped on you, at the govt's discretion. And a number of people are working very hard to grease up that slippery slope.