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US history is littered with repressive laws "at the expense of constitutional protections and civil liberties." The 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts restricted First Amendment freedoms.
So did 1919 anti-communist Palmer raids, the 1934 Special Committee on Un-American Activities, its House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) successor, secret FBI COINTELPRO crackdowns, the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the 2001 USA Patriot Act, and other post-9/11 measures.
These and other police state measures expanded government surveillance, eroded habeas rights, formalized military tribunals, permitted torture-extracted confessions, and sanctified violence in the name of national security.
As a result, nonviolent civil disobedience can be called terrorism. Patriot Act provisions criminalized dissent. Innocent people have been arrested, indicted and imprisoned for pursuing their constitutionally guaranteed rights.
Using so-called "terrorist profiles," the FBI can investigate anyone for any reason. So can local police working cooperatively with them or alone.
Abrogating constitutional rights entirely may come next. Occupying America against financial terrorism and corporate greed can be criminalized. America's right to dissent is endangered.
Attacks on Nonviolent Protests
In 1999, attacking Seattle global justice protesters was a harbinger of things to come. Tens of thousands rallied for environmental, worker and other rights. Police did what they do best.
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