Editor,
The many criticisms against the Patriot Act passed by the Bush administration following Sept. 11, 2001 make me wonder where these voices of dissent were in 1996, when Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.
The law is a rough precursor to the Patriot Act, allowing looser standards for wiretapping and surveillance, as well as increasing penalties for attacks on federal employees. It's nice to know a federal employee has more protection than Joe and Jane Citizen. The act was a response to the Oklahoma City bombing and the 1993 World Trade Center attack.
At the time, there was very little protest. Because the law was mainly conceived as a way to deal with the growing militia movements of the Midwest and West, it was not a major issue. Apparently, attacking the "fringe" elements of society is not a violation of our civil liberties.
It was only with the Patriot Act that the howls of outrage began. Why? Because this time,ˇUncle Sam was coming after the academic community, writers and common citizens. The Patriot Act falls into the axiom that bad law begets bad law.
As long as Washington was going after the right-wing loonies, it was acceptable to strip away our right to criticism and to loosen the reins on federal surveillance.ˇWhen the powers that be used the Sept. 11 attacks to further expand their power and use their resources against the mainstream and academia, we have a tragedy on our hands.
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When we fail to stand up for the speech and ideologies we disagree with and fail to defend groups such as the militia groups and the John Birch Society, we invite our own demise as a free country. When the only speech or ideas we are willing to go to the mats for are those we find acceptable - or the radical ideas of those carrying Ph.Ds -ˇwe put forth an aura of hypocrisy.
It is imperative to criticize bad laws and to challenge authority when it is being used to reduce dissenting opinions, whether those dissidents are 40-year-old men running in the woods with paintball guns or a hybrid of old hippies and neo-hippies marching up Central Avenue to protest the Iraq War.
Brandon D. Curtis
UNM alumnus
