I remember when I was growing up, I spent countless afternoons in my local library reading my favorite books. I remember the feeling of safety and comfort I felt in the library, among the hundreds of books. It was a place of possibility and imagination and creativity and intellectual freedom. This serene image was, therefore, somewhat jarred when I read in the papers that Monterey Park, California, has the following message taped to every computer screen of its public libraries: "Beware, anything you read is now subject to secret scrutiny by federal agents."
This message is in response to the Patriot Act, passed by the Congress one month after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This act was passed with very little debate during a time when the country was still in shock and mourning. The Patriot Act vastly expands the government's surveillance abilities. It allows federal agents to force librarians and book owners to hand over a patron's reading and Internet habits. It allows investigators to use "national security letters" to require businesses to hand over electronic records on finances, telephone calls, e-mails and other personal data. It allows random arrests and detention of anyone or any group designated by the President. It allows the concealment of presidential records. It permits "military tribunals" for presidentially-designated "terrorists." And most of this occurs in a shroud of secrecy in an effort to deal with sensitive matters of national security.
Now if that wasn't enough, there is a sequel to the Patriot Act in the works (dubbed Patriot Act II) which would give the government authority to wiretap an individual and collect a person's DNA without court orders, detain people in secret and revoke citizenship, among other powers. The public outrage over these developments has been burgeoning as more and more people become aware of the implications of this law. The most publicly vocal opponent to the Patriot Act is the American Library Association and there is widespread protest among libraries across the country such as the one in Monterey Park, California.
How did it come to this? Is the Bill of Rights only valid in times of peace? The moment there is any kind of threat to the national security, is it perfectly acceptable to infringe upon and curtail individual rights? Have we all forgotten the fate of Japanese Americans during World War II? The many Japanese Americans in the state of Hawaii sure haven't because Hawaii is close to passing a statewide resolution against the act. There are already 89 cities in the country that have passed resolutions condemning the Patriot Act, with a dozen more in the works. In fact, Arcata, California, a small city with population 16,000 has outlawed voluntary compliance with the Patriot Act. Has the federal government really gone "stark, raving mad," as alleged by the election slogan of the Arcata City Councilman David Meserve?
I think that Meserve is right. The federal government has, indeed, gone mad. Or worse yet, it is purposefully using fractured emotions from Sept. 11 to warrant unprecedented expansion of its powers. Fear is a dangerous thing. We all harbor a deep fear of the unknown, the imagined, the possible. And it is this fear that the government is playing on to establish legal precedent to randomly spy on its citizens. But don't panic yet, the Justice Department has you covered. "We're not going after the average American," said Mark Corallo, a Justice Department spokesman. "We're only going after the bad guys. We respect the right to privacy. If you're not a terrorist or a spy, you have nothing to worry about." Oh really? Wow, thanks, that makes me feel better. As long as they don't think that you're a terrorist, you should be fine. And if they do well, you know, you could be stripped of your citizenship and made to disappear. As my roommate would say, "no biggie."
I wonder what George Orwell would say to all this. He was only two decades off in his predictions, but are we really that far away from a Big Brother government that infringes on every part of life? In fact, are we really that far away from a Gestapo-like secret police? This is isn't just a matter of protesting vague ideas -- it's a matter of privacy and individual rights. And these rights are in dire danger and will continue to be in danger unless the Patriot Act is repealed. There is a lesson to be learned from all this -- if you let your fears rule your actions, those fears will never go away. So it's time to stop being afraid of the unknown threats and to face the known threats from your own government. And if I were you, I'd think twice before checking out "1984" from the library. Who knows, Big Brother could be watching.
