Police State

“The Constitution of the United States was written by 55 men—and one ghost,” wrote military historian Dave R. Palmer. The nation’s Founders were quite well aware of Oliver Cromwell, who led the revolution that deposed King Charles I and established civil government in Great Britain. That democracy was short lived because when the newly formed Parliament refused to meet Cromwell’s demands, he used the army to seize power, establishing himself as Great Britain’s “Lord Protector.” To America’s Founding Fathers, the lesson was obvious: standing armies threaten liberty. Which explains why our Constitution divides control of the military between the executive and legislative branches of the government.

What America’s Founders did not foresee was the cold war era, where war could break out in a matter of moments, and widespread death and destruction was only a missile launch away. The war powers act was passed to allow the sitting president the authority to defend the nation (read “vaporize the Soviet Union”) in the event of a nuclear attack, where time would not allow Congress to issue a formal declaration of war. I suspect that if the cold war had turned hot, whatever was left of Congress, hunkered down in the national command bunker, would have been asked to issue a declaration of war, just to make things nice and legal of course. However, the War Powers Act was not intended to allow the President to indiscriminately start wars on his own. Just to confuse the issue even more, congress has not seen fit to rescind the war powers act in the seventeen years since the cold war ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today there’s even a movement afoot within the executive branch to militarize our borders, and to rescind the “Posse Comitatis” laws, which would give the president unlimited power to do anything he wants with the military, inside the United States.

In addition to handing their military authority over to the President, Congress also happily allows the president to control a small army of civilian police. The Secret Service, the National Park Police, the Transportation Security Administration, FBI, ATF, US Marshals Service, and dozens of other executive agencies act solely at the president’s behest and under his authority. It’s also been my understanding that the US Constitution does not give the federal government any law enforcement powers, instead leaving that authority with the Several States. The US Marshal Service was founded to police the vast western territories before they gained statehood. The FBI was only intended to be an investigative agency to assist the various state law enforcement organizations, and without any powers of arrest. The Secret Service was formed to chase down counterfeiters, not to protect the president! But instead of checking the expansion of executive police powers, members of Congress have virtually abandoned their oversight responsibilities, and allowed the president to become the virtual dictator of a shadowy Federal police state!

Although the growth of federal police powers began well before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the threat of terrorism is now used to justify their continued expansion. Restrictions on individual freedom are completely unchallenged as long as they are called “security measures.” After 9/11, the president closed the Statue of Liberty. Liberty Island has since reopened, but people can no longer go inside the statue to overlook New York City and the harbor. The statue that stands as a beacon of courage and freedom has now been closed off because of fear. Independence Hall in Philadelphia now resembles a heavily guarded prison facility. In Washington, D.C., entrances to public buildings are blocked by metal detectors and armed guards. Drivers near the Capitol can be randomly stopped by police on city streets and their cars searched by bomb sniffing dogs. Visiting museums requires waiting in long lines while backpacks and pocketbooks are searched. The Park Service has turned the Washington Monument into a surveillance tower, placing cameras on its observation deck that record activity on the National Mall and beyond. The Park Police fence off the National Mall before such events as the Fourth of July festivities and herd visitors in through checkpoints, which they no longer pretend are purely anti-terrorism measures. Park officials have admitted that they search picnic baskets and coolers for contraband, “alcoholic beverages, glass bottles, fireworks.”

In October 2001 Osama bin Laden boasted that terrorist attacks would achieve their purpose:
“I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The United States government will lead the American people into an unbearable hell and a choking life.” Life in the United States remains fairly good so far, and is a far cry from bin Laden’s “unbearable hell.” But some recent changes are rather worrying. Long lines, insistent searches, and odious identification requirements are becoming routine. Unwarranted intrusion and inconvenience are becoming the American way of life. To counter this insidious push for diminished liberty, we must examine the arguments behind it. The most common of course is that 9/11 “changed everything.” But life was also changed forever with the invention of gunpowder, aerial warfare, and of the atomic bomb. History is in large part the story of aggression, and restricting our freedoms certainly can’t stop that aggression.

Another argument used to justify excessive security at public landmarks is that police are merely “protecting the symbols of democracy.” But the symbol of democracy is an open society, not an ominous police presence. Terrorists have already hit our national monuments through the years, the difference being that after those earlier attacks, the government did not respond with hysteria. The war against terrorism is in large part a war against fear. To win this war, all Americans must accept the reality that our society will never be able to afford an environment that is totally free of risk from terrorist attacks. Nor would most Americans want to live with the restrictions that such a risk-free environment would demand. Then too, our nation’s leaders must be willing to demonstrate courage. Freedom prevailed in other times of national emergency only because our leaders did not succumb to fear. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated during the worst days of the Cold War, many in his administration feared his death was the start of a coup. If so, his successor Lyndon B. Johnson, would likely be the next target. Yet when Kennedy’s widow announced her intention to walk from the White House to her husband’s funeral, Johnson helped lead the procession that marched through the streets of downtown Washington rather than hiding out in the White House war room.

After winning rather vicious wars against the empires of Great Britain, Germany (twice), Japan, and the Soviet Union, will America now lose its freedom to a handful of religious zealots? “Terrorism succeeds,” said the late senator Patrick Moynihan, “when people become terrified.” Sadly, such success looms, unless America’s leaders begin defending our freedom and our Constitution, rather than giving in to their fears.