May 11, 2011
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| Bruce Fein is a constitutional scholar and served as the associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1982 and as general counsel to the Federal Communications Commission. He is cofounder of the American Freedom Agenda and writes weekly columns for The Washington Times and Politico.com. His forthcoming book American Empire, Before the Fall will be published by Campaign for Liberty. |
STATEMENT OF BRUCE FEIN
ON BEHALF OF CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY
RE: THE USA PATRIOT ACT: DISPELLING THE MYTHS
BEFORE THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
MAY 11, 2011
ON BEHALF OF CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY
RE: THE USA PATRIOT ACT: DISPELLING THE MYTHS
BEFORE THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
MAY 11, 2011
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Campaign for Liberty about the USA Patriot Act. Provoked largely by the gruesome abominations of 9/11, the legislation was born of fear and uncertainty from abroad. Fear, however, is the fount of tyranny. James Madison, father of the Constitution, warned centuries ago in opposing the tyrannical Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798: "Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger real or pretended from abroad." At the constitutional convention of 1787, Madison similarly recognized the inclination of government to wave a banner of foreign danger to excuse the destaruction of domestic liberties: "The means of defence agst. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people."
The 342-page USA Patriot Act passed without inquiry into whether arming the government with muscular investigatory tools justified the corresponding intrusions on the right to be left alone -- the right most valued by civilized people. The Patriot Act was portrayed as a necessary defense against foreign agents and international terrorists. Citizen liberties were relegated to extras in a Cecil B. De Mille cinematic extravaganza. Despite the good intentions of its architects, the Patriot Act betrays bedrock constitutional principles. The individual is the center of the Constitution's universe. Aggrandizing government is the center of the Patriot Act.
The Constitution salutes freedom and citizen sovereignty over absolute safety and citizen vassalage. The Patriot Act turns that hierarchy on its head. Where experience and facts are inconclusive as regards the need for government authority, the Constitution's default position is liberty. Under the Patriot Act, if a threat passes a microscopic threshold of danger, a Big Brother government is exalted, a descendant of the 1% doctrine. The authorization of "lone wolf"surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is exemplary. It has never been employed, yet it is defended as a cornerstone of the nation's defense against a second edition of 9/11.
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