Letters to the Editor

Are Americans being scared out of their inalienable rights?

Upton Sinclair is oft quoted as coining the phrase, "It can't happen here." He was referring, of course, to fascism.

The question that needs asking today is, "How can this possibly be happening here?"

The not just recently perceived, but currently widely promoted threats to our nation have spawned a dangerous tilt to our policies. Laws, both promulgated and stricken down, by policies laid out in many new bills and directives, such as the Patriot Act, the Homeland Security Act and a pre-emptive strike national defense policy, strengthen the current shift toward the aims of men with an agenda that voids and suspends many of the foundations and rights which distinguish our great country, and to what end?

Are we being maneuvered into being scared, not only out of our wits, but out of our rights and democracy as well?

Even the feel-good, No Child Left Behind education bill signed last January surreptitiously gives the military access to records of 15- and 16-year-old students in 22,000 of our nation's high schools. The desires of imperialism cannot be sustained without sufficient fodder for the covert and overt military actions that will enforce compliance to its aims.

We have men in power today, such as Elliot Abrams, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to two counts of withholding evidence from Congress (lying) over his role in the Iran-Contra affair, on the National Security Council, five time Iran-Contra felon Admiral John Poindexter, who is in charge of the systems development for a domestic spying network on our own populace and, not the least, Henry Kissinger, wanted for war crimes prosecutions in allied countries, has been resurrected and will surely reassure us that nothing was what it seemed before Sept. 11, 2001. The list goes on and on.

While "W" insists that other countries are held accountable in the International Criminal Court, the Bush administration is rife with convicted criminals, some pardoned by Bush's daddy, and former CEOs, who have backed their own interests above anyone's rights and who now delight in promoting and justifying our decision to bow out of having our own government bound by that same jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

The internationally recognized rule of law, which is a fundamental basis of order in this world and which we used to vigorously promote for others, has been suspended as it applies to our actions. Whose interest does that serve? We insist on compliance with U.N. directives, yet we do not comply with U.N. directives ourselves.

Through it all, W, Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, et al, are giving the stink-eye to anyone in the world who dares question their agenda. Daring to question our current administration's agenda has been labeled unpatriotic or likened to the crimes of lending aid to terrorists. If you are not with us, you must be against us.

Our citizens, with their very apparent and pervasive complacency, are blithely ceding our future to a fanatical form of fascism, fueled by elitism and corporate greed.

An infamous man once said, "What luck for rulers that men do not think."

Before you dismiss the many concerns raised here, investigate for yourself, come to your own conclusions and act accordingly.

In any case keep in mind, that the people who fail to insist in exercising their rights, are no better off than the people who have no rights.

Paul Zimmerman, Kasilof