# Government Using Anti-Terrorism Laws to Crush Dissent

Author: George Washington

Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 22:55:53

The following quotes all have something in common:

"It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into
error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling 
into error"
– United States Supreme Court decision in American Communications Association
v. Douds

"To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men."
- Abraham Lincoln

"Those who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety 
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Ben Franklin

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
-Thomas Jefferson

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is
shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of 
others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope,
and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, 
those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of 
oppression and resistance."
- Robert F . Kennedy

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless 
minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."
- Samuel Adams

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the 
president or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he 
himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he 
efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the 
exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by
the country."
– Teddy Roosevelt

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are 
to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile,
but is morally treasonable to the American public."
– Teddy Roosevelt

The citizen who sees his societys democratic clothes being worn out and does 
not cry it out, is not a patriot, but a traitor.
- Mark Twain

"Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the 
subjects of government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The 
history of liberty is a history of limitations of government power, not the 
increase of it."
- Woodrow Wilson

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to 
remain silent"
- Thomas Jefferson

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. 
Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise 
their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to 
dismember or overthrow it."
- Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural

"In this point of the case the question is distinctly presented whether the 
people of the United States are to govern through representatives chosen by 
their unbiased suffrages or whether the money and power of a great corporation 
are to be secretly exerted to influence their judgment and control their 
decisions."

- Andrew Jackson

"I am more than ever convinced of the dangers to which the free and unbiased 
exercise of political opinion -- the only sure foundation and safeguard of 
republican government -- would be exposed by any further increase of the 
already overgrown influence of corporate authorities."
- Martin Van Buren, Eighth President of the United States

"As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence 
of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far in
the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which 
should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the
people, are fast becoming the people's masters."
- Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States

"I again recommend a law prohibiting all corporations from contributing to the 
campaign expenses of any party. Let individuals contribute as they desire; but 
let us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making contributions
for any political purpose, directly or indirectly." Teddy Roosevelt added, "The
fortunes amassed through corporate organization are now so large, and vest such
power in those that wield them, as to make it a matter of necessity to give to 
the sovereign -- that is, to the Government, which represents the people as a 
whole -- some effective power of supervision over their corporate use. In order
to insure a healthy social and industrial life, every big corporation should be
held responsible by, and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough to 
control its conduct."
- Theodore Roosevelt

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of 
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial 
complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and 
will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our 
liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"It was natural and perhaps human that the privileged princes of these new 
economic dynasties, thirsting for power, reached out for control over 
government itself. They created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of 
legal sanction. ...And as a result the average man once more confronts the 
problem that faced the Minute Man....
- Franklin Roosevelt

"A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control
over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor -- 
other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no 
longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness."
- Franklin Roosevelt

"These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions 
of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their 
power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this 
kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution. 
In their blindness they forget what the flag and the Constitution stand for."
- Franklin Roosevelt

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing 
no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy 
this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt 
business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the 
day."
- Theodore Roosevelt

"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among 
these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these 
rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from 
the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes 
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles 
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to 
effect their Safety and Happiness."
-Thomas Jefferson, American Declaration of Independence

What do the quotes all have in common?

The great Americans who said them would be considered terrorists today.

Specifically, according to [6]Department of Defense training manuals, protest 
is considered "low-level terrorism". And see [7]this, [8]this and [9]this.

An [10]FBI memo also labels peace protesters as "terrorists".

Indeed, police have been terrorizing [11]children, little old ladies and other 
"dangerous" people who attempted to protest peacefully.

And a 2003 FBI memo describes protesters' use of videotaping as an 
"intimidation" technique, even though - as the [12]ACLUpoints out - "Most 
mainstream demonstrators often use videotape during protests to document law 
enforcement activity and, more importantly, deter police from acting outside 
the law." The FBI appears to be objecting to the use of cameras to document 
unlawful behavior by law enforcement itself.

The Internet has been [13]labeledas a breeding ground for terrorists, with 
anyone who questions the government's versions of history being especially 
equated with terrorists.

Many environmentalists allege that Homeland Security is using anti-terrorism 
laws to squash enforcement of environmental laws, and even citizens' ability to
know what is going on in their community. See [14]this and [15]this.

[16]Claims of "national security"are also used to keep basic financial 
information - such as who got bailout money - secret. That might not bode for 
particularly warm and friendly treatment for someone persistently demanding the
release of such information.

The state of Missouri [17]tried to labelas terrorists current Congressman Ron 
Paul and his supporters, former Congressman Bob Barr, libertarians in general, 
anyone who holds gold, and a host of other people.

And according to a [18]law school professor, pursuant to the Military 
Commissions Act:

  Anyone who ... speaks out against the government's policies could be declared
  an "unlawful enemy combatant" and imprisoned indefinitely. That includes 
  American citizens.

The Founding Fathers, Supreme Court justices and presidents quoted above would 
vigorously protest.

Note: Government apologists are also eager to [19]labelanyone "taking a cynical
stance toward politics, mistrusting authority, endorsing democratic practices, 
... and displaying an inquisitive, imaginative outlook" as worthy of a 
Stalinist trip to the insane asylum.  I guess the famous Americans quoted 
above were not only terrorists, but they were also crazy.
[image 20]

Links: 

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/

[6]: http://open.salon.com/blog/dennis_loo/2009/06/14/dod_training_manual_protests_are_low-level_terrorism (link)

[7]: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526972,00.html (link)

[8]: http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-challenges-defense-department-personnel-policy-regard-lawful-protests-%E2%80%9Clow-le (link)

[9]: http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics/ci_12589887 (link)

[10]: http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/tmcterrorismmemo.pdf (link)

[11]: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2008/09/police-terrorize-children-reporters-and.html (link)

[12]: http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/16960prs20031123.html (link)

[13]: http://www.google.com
/search?q=%22The+Internet+has+aided+in+facilitating+violent+radicalization%2C+ideologically+based+violence%2C+and+the+homegrown+terrorism+process+in+the+United+States+by+providing+access+to+broad+and+con
stant+streams+of+terrorist-related+propaganda+to+United+States+citizens%2C%22+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a (link)

[14]: http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/09/in-private-email-pa-s-homeland-security-cheif-pledges-support-to-gas-drillers-but-not-groups-fomenting-dissent/ (link)

[15]: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/09/post_122.html (link)

[16]: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/01/why-is-nationa-security-being-invoked.html (link)

[17]: http://www.prisonplanet.com/missouri-governor-stands-behind-miac-smear-report.html (link)

[18]: http://www.counterpunch.org/cohn09302006.html (link)

[19]: http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/05/26/the-inner-worlds-of-conspiracy-believers.html (link)