Jeebus Corpses

[ARCHIVE: At this time in my life, I was in Taiwan, teaching English to junior high school kids. Living abroad was the beginning of my increased interest with United States politics, partly because I was starved for any news, partly because I started thinking outside of the "gaming news is the only thing that matters to me" thought box.]Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, your position dictates that you are the head of the Department of Justice. Naturally such a position should be well versed in law policy and the current practices thereof. So, in regards to haebus corpus, do you know if any U.S. citizens are currently being held by the government and denied haebus corpus, that is, without formal legal charges brought against them?

Gonzales: LOL, i dunno.

These are the men that are running the country, United States citizens. Men who do not and will not defend your right to an expedient and clear prosecution. Men who do not deem it even worth consideration. Men asking for the right to treat anyone and everyone however they see fit while parading the justification that it is "all for your protection."

Alarmingly, this is not the only attack on civil liberties being levied against you by the current administration. You are told not to speak about seeking peace, for it would be unpatriotic. You are corralled into faraway "free speech zones" if you choose to protest current policies. You are threatened with incarceration and intrusion should you even question the policies of the government.

And yet you do nothing. You've never known somebody who's been unjustly detained, nor fined for expressing their opinion. Your cry and you weep about how the "liberal media" misrepresents your religion, yet you cry fowl if a Persian is on television for forgetting to remove a tube of toothpaste from his carry-on. It doesnt affect you, and it's not worth raising a fuss so long as you have your daily beer and your Fox News.

So, America, what happens when all the dissenters are gone? What if your administration proves successful, and there is nothing left but a nation of yes-men? What if there is no need for freedom of speech, for everyone parrots the same ideas? What if there is no need for a search warrant, for anyone suspected of wrong-doing must be guilty of thinking of treason, if not of practicing it?

Do you suppose your government will rest on its laurels? Leave well enough alone and retires into the night? Or will they, in the absence of clear targets, begin manufacturing them?
Suddenly, your father is taken away because he expressed interest in a movie that made Iraqis pitiable. Your daughter is questioned for lending a crayon to a black child whose grandfather was a Black Panther. You express dissatisfaction with your boss, and find yourself in a reevaluation camp because your words made him "uncomfortable."

What will you do, America, when the people you trusted to defend you perceive you to be your greatest threat?