Yankees

In America, we have this disgusting habit of not knowing what we have until it is gone; a vice that can be traced back to our indebted and impaired primogenitors. Bill Murray once said, in the movie Stripes I believe, that to be an American is to understand that your forefathers were kicked out of every decent nation in the world. Truly, it is an amazing feeling to be from the good old US of A. As an American, one is automatically entitled to be the biggest and badest kid on the international block, call the president "W" (pronounced dubba-ya), and say anything at all, no matter how caustic it may be. By in large, most of my coequals have taken such privileges and acted like retards (yeah, I pulled your card Larry Flint!). Still and all, many more individuals use such freedoms for the edification of all of us. Sadly, in the wake of the September 11th attacks, it will be those who wish to illuminate others or stand as conscious objectors that will end up feeling the brunt of American's retaliatory power.

Since the dawn of the American-era, free speech and freedom of the press have been parapets of the American consciousness. Under the first amendment to the constitution, Americans are guaranteed, verbatim, the following; "Congress shall make no law establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances." Any Civics class, however, makes it exhaustively clear that for most of the Amendment's two hundred-year history it was all but ignored by legislatures and judicial authorities. In fact, it was not until the 1920's when the Supreme Court selectively started to integrate the First Amendment into rulings. Ergo, it does not seem inappropriate to assume that history could repeat itself. The First Amendment could, quite easily, become yet another meaningless formation of words in the law books; much like anti-inbreeding statues in Arkansas.

What has me up in arms, is the Antiterrorism Bill that was signed by President Bush on October 26. Many hail its passage as a step toward increasing national security, I, on the other hand, see it as a direct assault on my civil liberties. The twelve provisions of the bill are so vaguely defined that the line between terrorist and political activist becomes ne'er too distinct. Though the bill provides for many new methods for combating terrorism, it does not provide a definition of the word "terrorist." Therefore, a dangerous loophole that begs for abuse exists in this "patriotic" measure. According to the provisions (passed 98-1 in the Senate), someone like myself, apolitically active citizen, could be the victim of unreasonable secret searches if I arose even minimal suspicion. Local, not well trained federal authorities, could my implement roving wiretaps to intercept all phone calls from every phone I have contact with, and monitor all e-mails communications I partake in. I fear, with warrant, a return to the McCarthy-ism of the 1950's, where men in smoky government buildings determine whether or not I have partaken in "Un-American" activities. By "Un-American" activities, I mean such ghastly diversions as rooting against the Yankees in the World Series (they are "America's Team"), drinking tea en lieu of coffee, and, worst of all, looking cross-eyed at a government owned tree! -the horror, the horror!

Albeit, these are far-fetched examples but, truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction. The war with foreign factions abroad pales in comparison to the war activists have to fight within the American system. As the passing of the Antiterrorism statues prove, the oft embittered partisan government of the US is quickly moving toward a totalitarian police state. America now is not the same America I was born into; the America of Larry Flint and Hustler Magazine, of Punk music and self-mutilating piercing practices, by Jove, the America of Fonzey and the Happy Days gang. Perhaps the only solace Americans can now take is that we are all products of impaired ancestors.