Well, well. George W. Bush is getting a political
comeuppance — and it’s coming from conservatives.
At issue is his enthusiasm for the liberty-busting USA
Patriot Act, a little shop of autocratic horrors that the Bush
administration rammed through Congress under cover of the 9/11 terrorist
attack. Several of its most intrusive, anti-democratic provisions expire
this year, and Bush has made their renewal a top priority. These provisions
include “sneak-and-peek” secret searches by the FBI of
people’s homes and computers, the secret raiding of libraries and
medical offices to grab people’s records, and a definition of
“terrorist” so broad that it includes citizens who simply
protest government policy.
Fortunately for America, some real conservatives balk
at such a dangerous extension of autocratic police power, even if
it’s imposed by Republicans masquerading as conservatives.
Libertarian-minded Republicans — among them Bob
Barr, Paul Weyrich, and Grover Norquist — have now joined such
liberal advocates for liberty as the ACLU in an odd coalition to battle the
Bushites. Named Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, the coalition is
rallying grassroots opposition to the renewal of the most offensive parts
of the perversely named Patriot Act.
The grassroots need little rallying, however, for
they’re already on the move. Montana, for example, is in the
forefront of a “red-state rebellion” against Bush’s
intrusive police powers. Montana lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved a
strong resolution criticizing Bush’s Patriot Act, uniting Republican
legislators with Democrats. “Civil liberties are a bipartisan issue
in Montana,” said a Republican state representative from Trout Creek
who led the house effort to pass the resolution by a vote of 88-12.
Whether you’re Republican, Democrat, or
whatever, you can’t take liberty for granted.
This article appears in Apr 21-27, 2005.
