Posted by
Always To The Right on Monday, July 13, 2009 4:58:16 PM
Would Congress ever pass legislation that would allow the executive
to determine at its own discretion whether political opponents had
crossed the line into domestic terrorists and build camps in which to
keep them? Sounds like something out of 20th-century totalitarian
systems or dystopian fiction. Mark Tapscott says it’s not fiction, and he warns readers about an effort by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) to do just that:
Rep. Alcee Hastings - the impeached Florida judge Nancy
Pelosi tried to install as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee
until her own party members rebelled - introduced an amendment to the
defense authorization bill that gives Attorney General Eric Holder sole
discretion to label groups that oppose government policy on guns,
abortion, immigration, states’ rights, or a host of other issues. In a
June 25 speech on the House floor, Rep. Trent Franks, R-AZ, blasted the
idea: “This sounds an alarm for many of us because of the recent
shocking and offensive report released by the Department of Homeland
Security which labeled, arguably, a majority of Americans as
‘extremists.’”
Another Hastings bill (HR 645) authorizes $360 million in 2009 and
2010 to set up “not fewer than six national emergency centers on
military installations” capable of housing “a large number of
individuals affected by an emergency or major disaster.” But Section 2
(b) 4 allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to use the camps “to
meet other appropriate needs” - none of which are specified. This is
the kind of blank check that Congress should never, ever sign.
It’s not paranoid to be extremely wary of legislation that would
give two unelected government officials power to legally declare
someone a “domestic terrorist” and send them to a government-run camp.
However, the designation of domestic terrorist groups — a necessary and
critical process for keeping the peace — should not fall into the hands
of just one person. That process needs oversight and consensus to be
credible and fair. Congress should have some involvement, especially
in oversight. Holder could be the greatest AG in the history of the US
but still should not have the absolute authority to make that
designation, especially after the track record of the DHS in using
vague parameters and broad-based smears of legitimate political protest
earlier this year.