Freedom isn’t free

Because we have a new president, I really hate to keep going back to the well on this one. But there’s still just way too much material to cover from the George W. Bush administration, and we need to pay attention to it. If we ignore the past, we can’t prevent it from happening again.

So, evidently the Bush administration tried to suspend the First Amendment.
 
According to an October 23, 2001, memo, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel suggested that the president had the power to suppress free speech and press rights in wartime. John Woo – also the author of the infamous memo that essentially legalized illegal acts of torture – wrote that “First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully,” claiming an incredible amount of executive power that Bush thankfully never had the gall to exercise.

Such a claim is not unprecedented.

John Adams signed the Sedition Act of 1798 into law to restrict speech critical of the government while the United States nearly went to war with France. During World War I, Woodrow Wilson supported the Sedition Act of 1918, which amended the Espionage Act, designed to prevent interference with the draft and to restrict public speech that in any way disparaged the flag, the Constitution or the military.

Considering the fact that one of the reasons he gave for al-Qaida’s anger toward Western society was that they hate our freedoms, I find it surprising that Bush or his administration would be willing and, apparently, able to strip two of the most cherished American freedoms simply because the nation was in danger.

If terrorists hate us for our freedom and we willingly give up that freedom, doesn’t that mean the terrorists win?

I understand a need for emergency powers. Congress moves slowly, and in a crisis, agility and speed can be a virtue and a necessity.

One of the reasons we have an executive branch is to take decisive action when it’s necessary. But should we really be willing to give up the core of our belief system in such an emergency? Should that even be on the table? I think not. 

Defenders of the Iraq war and of other wars often use the slogan “freedom isn’t free.” I agree.

The freedoms that we all have today have been paid for in the blood of American soldiers in the Revolutionary War, Civil War and World War II, in the face of many forms of oppression ranging from colonialism and slavery to genocide and conquest. If ever there was a situation where those freedoms were once again at risk, I’d gladly take up arms to defend them, as would countless others.

So wouldn’t it be the height of disrespect to throw out those freedoms out of fear? If our soldiers are willing to lay down their lives for freedom, we shouldn’t abandon it for safety.