Don’t worry.
It doesn’t apply to you.
The NSA wiretaps, I mean.
You don’t hang out with terrorists. In fact, you don’t know anybody from the middle east, except for the guy who runs the liquor store two blocks down.
If the NSA has a list of people you called over the past five years, what of it? There’s billions of entries in that list, and nobody is ever even going to look at it.
And if they did look, big deal. They would learn that you call your wife from work twice a day. You have friends you call. You sometimes call the electric company or your bank because there’s something on the monthly statement you don’t quite understand. You call the office, of course, and your folks back home.
Nothing wrong with that. Legal as church on Sunday. You think it’s silly that you feel faintly defensive just thinking about it.
You grin, remembering that time last summer when you got tanked at the barbeque, and came home before the wife and kids did, and decided to reach out and touch someone. Called a bunch of old college friends, and even a couple of ex-girlfriends. Let’s hope the wife doesn’t hear about THAT! Most of the numbers weren’t any good any more, but you did hook up with Jerry. Jerry was an old poli-sci classmate, and he was ranting about the president. Which was ok. You don’t like that he invaded Iraq and lied about why he did it, or his economic policies, either. You don’t know about the war criminal stuff Jerry talks about, though. This is America, and Americans don’t throw people in secret jails and torture them. As for the people at Guantanamo, well, all prisoners claim they are innocent, and abused by their jailers. They must have done something to be there.
Well, let’s just say for the sake of argument that talking like that could get you in trouble with the law. It couldn’t, of course. There’s still a Constitution. But even if it did, the papers say the NSA tracked billions of calls. Nobody could find time to listen to all of them, and even if someone did, what of it? Jerry might be a little extreme, but you remember in college he used to talk about running off to Israel and joining a kibbutz. He certainly isn’t any Arab terrorist!
Was it Jerry who said if he committed crimes the president should be put on trial, or was it you? Damn. You can’t remember. Well, doesn’t matter. It’s legal to say that. They can’t throw you in jail for saying someone should be tried if they committed a crime, can they?
You just talked to an old college buddy who had managed to hang on to some of his old liberal ideals. Nothing wrong with that. You shouldn’t even be giving it a second thought.
Secret prisons and wiretaps. Doesn’t apply to you, of course.
They don’t lock people up for no reason at all. They must have done something. Didn’t that radio talk show host tell us all that the people at Gitmo had been trained to insist they were innocent and being mistreated?
With people that tricky and committed, you need to take special steps to keep America safe. You know that. Anything else just means more planes flying into more World Trade Centers. You can’t make an omelette. You don’t have rights without safety. How are we going to beat the terrorists if we don’t know what they want. The Constitution doesn’t say anything about privacy.
You have the right to have the government take special steps to protect you. Government exists to protect you from people the government says wants to hurt you. The founders certainly understood that.
Terrorists hate that we are imposing freedom and democracy in their part of the world, which is proof that they hate freedom and democracy. But terrorists don’t get to choose if they want democracy or not, not when freedom is on the march.
It’s a different world since 9/11, and it makes sense that the president should have the right to ignore laws passed by Congress that, in his best judgment, could compromise national security. And you’re kind of glad the government has access to all your emails. Oh, you know that some of the stuff you get in email is pretty vile, but surely the agents understand you have no control over what lists you wind up on. Sure, you visited a few porn sites when you first got your computer because you were curious, but everyone you know did that. These agents are professionals. They aren’t going to make judgments. Besides, there have to be some laws about confidentiality, right?
It doesn’t apply to you.
So when they come for you, you can tell yourself it’s all a mistake. You’re a good American. Law abiding, pay most of the taxes you’re supposed to pay. So you believe the agent when he explains that they don’t suspect you of any particular crime, but that some of the people you have been in contact with where, in turn, involved in some patterns that suggested other patterns known to be used by terrorists. They’ll sort it all out and get you home in a few weeks. You hope they let your family know where you went without warning.
Three years later, you can still tell yourself it’s a mistake, and it’s just bureaucratic bungling that caused it. It still annoys you, though, that you have to wait for trail, if and when.
But you have one thing to comfort you. The Great American Spirit that made you what you are today still burns on, in your family, your friends, your neighbors, your church and work associates.
They all assume you must have done something. It’s a whole new world since 9/11. You can’t be too careful dealing with people who hate freedom and democracy.
It doesn’t apply to them.
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May 17, 2006 By: Bryan Zepp http://www.mytown.ca/zepp/
