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http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j112601.html
By Justin Raimondo AntiWar.com
http://www.antiwar.com/
November 26, 2001
Bullied and herded by the leaders of both parties, our witless Solons in
Washington passed the "USA PATRIOT Act" by a huge margin.
Since the bill
wasn't even printed before the vote, they couldn't possibly have read
this
372-page document. But even if they had read it, it's doubtful they
would
have balked at passing the most draconian wartime measure since the
infamous
Alien and Sedition Acts. In the wake of 9/11, none but a few brave souls
wanted to be seen as "soft on terrorism," and, in any case,
the politicians'
instinctive impulse to gather more power unto themselves was automatic,
in
this instance, as in any other. The big problem, however, is that a
number of
surprises are beginning to surface, as our congressional
"patriots" realize
that blindly playing follow-the-leader can often lead one over a cliff.
SHOCKING THE BOURGEOISIE
Much attention has been paid to the "civil libertarian"
aspects of this
hideous bill: it would permit indefinite detention of non-citizens; and
give
the authorities carte blanche to read email, open snail-mail, and
eavesdrop
on phone conversations - all without a warrant, and without having to
answer
to anyone. The Orwellian possibilities of a national chip-implanted ID
card,
and a national database to match, are pretty obvious, and these, too,
are
promised in the bill. But one key yet so far overlooked aspect of the
"Patriot" Act is the draconian controls it imposes on American
business, both
large transnational mega-corporations and local mom-and-pop stores. Mr.
and
Mrs. Bourgeoisie tend to be GOP types, but what will these stolid
Republican
burghers say when they realize that they, too, are being "pressed
into
service on the home front in the war on terrorism," as the Boston
Globe put
it?
DEPARTMENT OF SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS
In the name of "patriotism" and the "war on
terrorism," retailers are being
conscripted into an army of informants whose job it is to spy on their
customers. Under the terms of this legislation, all businesses must
report
"suspicious transactions" to the Treasury Department. What
makes a
transaction "suspicious"? You can bet there will be a 500-page
manual to
answer all your questions, and if you want to stay in business you had
better
commit it to memory - or find yourself accused of aiding and abetting
terrorism.
TYRANNY BY INCREMENTS
According to the text of the Act, "any person engaged in trade or
business"
must report all transactions over $10,000 to Washington bureaucrats:
failure
to do so could result in punishment far worse than a mere fine. Here is
a
perfect example of how the principle of incrementalism works in favor of
the
expansion of state power.
Before the passage of the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, this requirement
previously applied only to pawnbrokers and car dealers, as a way to
track
down stolen goods. The Banking Secrecy Act, passed in the name of
fighting
the "war on drugs," extended the reporting system to banking
institutions of
one sort or another. The USA PATRIOT Act universalizes this
surveillance,
and, in the process, gives government officials a key weapon that may be
utterly useless in fighting terrorism, but may prove invaluable in the
government's perpetual battle to expropriate wealth and centralize
power.
THE ROAD TO CORRUPTION
If I buy three $4,000 shipments of, say, tea imported from Japan, the
fight
against terrorism is not going to be helped one whit if I report it to
the
Economic Surveillance Unit of the Office of Homeland Security. Who may
be
helped, however, is my competitor in the tea trade who, perhaps, has a
"friend" in the bureaucracy with access to this information.
To know what the
competition is buying, and how much they're paying - what business rival
wouldn't pay through the nose to obtain this vital information? If you
think
corruption is already endemic, wait until you see what life in wartime
is
like.
'OPEN THE BOOKS!'
Aside from the corruption angle, this little-known aspect of the
"Patriot"
Act practically fulfills one of the key demands in the old Marxist
program:
back in the old days, the Commies would always demand of "big
business" that
they "open the books" - that is, reveal the details of their
business
operations. The idea was that once the profit margins of the capitalists
were
exposed to public view, such a display of wealth and greed would seem so
obviously obscene and exploitative that it would inevitably lead to a
socialist revolution. What the Commies never managed to pull off, George
W.
Bush and his fellow Republicans have accomplished in a single day's
session
of Congress and the stroke of a presidential pen. The books of American
business have been pried open, not by the proletariat, but by the
leaders of
the world's leading capitalist country.
SNEAK ATTACK
Headlines proclaim the glorious "liberation" of Afghanistan,
as the progress
of our noble allies from one victory to another is breathlessly analyzed
and
celebrated. Has Kunduz fallen? Will the Northern Alliance keep Kabul?
And
what of Herat? The fate of cities half a world away is trumpeted from
the
rooftops, but news of another sort of sneak attack, this time against
our
free enterprise system, is barely heard above a whisper. "This is a
big deal,
and a big change, for the vast majority of American businesses,"
says Joe
Rubin, chief lobbyist for the US Chamber of Commerce. "But I don't
think
anybody realizes it's happened."
JOE EVERYMAN, MARTYR TO WAR
Oh god, I can't wait until they find out! Let us anticipate the
following
scenario with unalloyed and unapologetic glee: pro-war blowhard Joe
Everyman,
who runs a small electronics business out of his home, is suddenly
confronted
with reams of paperwork before he can purchase or sell anything of
consequence. As he encounters costly delays, and watches his small
savings
melt away against the backdrop of a general economic downturn, perhaps
he'll
stop railing against "ragheads" long enough to realize he's
been had.
Or, then again, if he's a real dumbo, maybe he'll just scream all the
louder
that we have to start bombing Iraq, and perhaps Syria, funneling his
inchoate
anger at an acceptably "patriotic" target. This, at any rate,
is what the War
Party is hoping for, as they gear up for "phase two" of
Operation Enduring
Freedom - not to mention phases three through three-hundred-and-ten.
OH SO CONVENIENT
This war is oh so convenient for so many people that it is no wonder
they're
telling us it could last a whole generation. If we ask the key question
-
"Who benefits?" - the results are like doing a Google-search
on the phrase
"grassy knoll" - the results are too numerous to even list,
let alone
describe. One overlooked political benefit to the current administration
is
that the war is an excellent diversion from the bad economic news on the
home
front. An economic downturn that can always be blamed on Osama Bin Laden
would have come, anyway: the "almost official" declaration
that we are in a
recession hardly comes as news to the markets, which have been in a
radical
downswing that shows no signs of abating anytime soon. And here we come
to
the economic uses of this war, as the real meaning of what our rulers
have in
store for us becomes all too apparent.
THE WWII ANALOGY & ITS USES
The War Party is fond of referring to what is essentially a police
action
against a ragtag band of fanatics as the moral and military equivalent
of
World War II: the propaganda purposes of this sort of hyperbole are
manifold.
Not only does it demonize the other side as the modern-day equivalent of
Hitler and the Nazis - "Islamic fascism," you'll recall, is
the source of the
New Popular Front's ire - but it also gives a sense of scale to the
struggle.
Clearly, in their minds, this is a gigantic battle that must not be
confined
to the wilds of Afghanistan, or Somalia, or wherever they decide to go
next.
It must permeate every aspect of American life: we must be perpetually
"on
alert," and not only against young Middle Eastern-looking men and
their
ubiquitous box-cutters. We must also be on guard against
"suspicious
transactions" - and those who fail to report them. Oh, what a field
day
politically-connected business interests are going to have against their
less
influential competitors! In addition to the toll-free "Report-a-Raghead"
hotlines opened up by the FBI and Homeland Security, we'll have an
economic
saboteur hotline, where stool pigeons can rat on their rivals and the
whole
system of bribery and outright thievery that characterized the Clinton
era
can metastasize into a permanent condition.
SOCIALISM WITH A 'CAPITALIST' FACE
The economic regulations enshrined in the "Patriot" Act have
more to do with
the government's war on American business than with any "war on
terrorism."
The war spirit, transferred to the economy, gives us - socialism, or
something damn near it. Who can doubt that this information - encoded,
of
course, in a national database - will be put to other uses, such as
"economic
planning"? That the Sovietization of the American economy was
accomplished,
not by a Leninist vanguard party, but by two ostensibly capitalist
parties,
the Republicans and the Democrats, is an irony that few will note -
until it
is too late.
A SOVIET AMERICA
Oh, and don't let them tell you that these are only
"emergency" measures, and
will be repealed once the war is over. To begin with, if we take the
overblown rhetoric of the War Party at face value, we may not live to
see the
end of this war. Secondly, since when has any government ever
surrendered
power voluntarily?: a government prerogative, once granted during
wartime,
tends to stay encoded in law. Look at New York City's rent control laws,
enacted as an emergency wartime measure, still in force after all these
years. No, the longer the "Patriot" Act is allowed to subvert
the
Constitution, and trample on our liberty, the more likely it is to
become a
permanent feature of American life. Congress must be forced - forced by
a
popular outcry - to take a second look. This onerous legislation, which
lays
the foundations for a Soviet socialist America, must be repealed.
'DON'T TREAD ON ME!'
As the first phase of a campaign to get rid of this Orwellian
monstrosity,
and warn our rulers that we won't put up with it, it is high time to
turn the
propaganda of the War Party on its head: that is, to use their own
tactics
against them. Our ruling elites are overjoyed, of course, that
patriotism is
"in," and do their best to ensure that any expression of
dissent is angrily
dismissed as disloyalty or worse. The popularity of displaying the
American
flag is being touted as proof of the blind loyalty of the masses to
anything
the government says or does, when, of course, it is nothing of the kind.
The red-white-and-blue hangs outside my door, and I am certainly not
giving
the US government a blank check to go on a rampage, either at home or
abroad.
People are literally waving the flag out of sheer defiance, and
legitimate
anger at the sheer unspeakable horror of the 9/11 attack, not out of
knee-jerk support for any particular government policies. One way to
visibly
register dissent from the all-out assault on our civil liberties is to
bring
out another, older flag, the one that preceded Old Glory. A banner
showing a
coiled snake - the Gadsden flag - was popular during the American
Revolution,
because it was emblazoned with a message to King George and any
potential
oppressor or attacker: "Don't Tread on Me"!
REGISTER YOUR DISSENT
This raises exactly the right slogan at exactly the right moment, to
whomever
may care to take heed. There's a shortage of American flags, due to the
flag
craze, and you can be the first on your block to show your colors by
displaying the revolutionary flag right next to Old Glory. "Don't
Tread on
Me" - and that goes for you, too, John Ashcroft.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
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