USA Patriot Act

We continue to hear propaganda from the administration that the none of us should be scared of the powers, additional powers, being usurped by the government. I originally wrote granted to but then I couldn't figure out who was granting these additional powers. "They" tell us that they only want the ability to chase terrorists with the same laws used against drug dealers -- what's wrong with that? The inherent assumption is that the laws the government uses against drug dealers are fine and dandy with the population. After all , everyone hates drug dealers, so any law designed to catch these bad people must be a good thing. Unfortunately for thousands of law-abiding citizens and even State and Local governments, the warnings of the Constitution and the Founders are going unheeded. The entire point of the Constitution is that power in the hands of the {Federal} government needs to be finite and express. When a government is allowed to grant to itself more power, it will do just that and this usurpation has no limit so long as the Constitution is seen as a "living" document. Try to play poker with "living" rules -- ones which change with the will of the powerful. It's not much fun, unless you're in charge


State News - StatesmanJournal.com
Kevin Neely, spokesman for the Oregon attorney general's office, said that although residents who participate in the state medical marijuana program are operating legally under state law, they still risk federal prosecution. According to the Tenth Amendment this should NEVER happen. One government or the other has been granted the authority over the administering of drugs; the other has not.

Please raise your hand if you want these Gordian knots to be applied to even more violations. Imagine if the California recall petitioners were classified as enemy combatants by the Feds. Their crime under Federal law could be something nicely ambiguous like Subverting the Democratic Process -- a rhetorical charge actually made by some. Therefore, they could collect signatures while sheriffs and police officers walk right by, but then get arrested by a clean cut guy in a suit and dark glasses: an agent if you will.

If you read the anti-federalist papers you find that there were many objections to the power of taxation, granted to the Federal government for the sole purpose of raising money for self defense. It was argued that this narrowly construed power would eventually be expanded to serve the passing fancy of the elite. Sure enough, it has. This has occurred, as it was bound to do, with every power given the Federal government. The power to regulate interstate commerce now means that anything that is remotely connected to a service or product which may at some time cross a state boundary is fair game for government regulation and oversight. The power to guard the nation's borders means that now any crime which may involve the crossing of national borders can be regulated in any manner which the rulers see fit. The case in point: If marijuana sometimes arrives from outside the US, the Feds have the right, duty and moral obligation to make sure that legal (so Oregonians think) users of Medical Marijuana should be jailed.

If the drug war and it's bevy of laws is the role model for the USA Patriot Act, we may as well bury the Constitution far, far away where it's message won't get in the way of making us all safe.