POLICE STATE USA: Creation Of The Department Of Homeland Security

Department Of Homeland Security

An inverse relationship exists between power wielded by Government and a Citizenry’s freedom from Government’s exercise of that power.

As Government accumulates power, there is a concomitant loss of freedom and liberty in the Citizenry.

The Founders of the American Republic knew this. As power waxes unchecked in Government, the liberties and freedoms of Americans, written in stone in the Bill of Rights, wanes.

Department Of Homeland Security
Department Of Homeland Security

There is irony in this. The Federal Government, created to serve the American People, turns on the People and requires the People to serve it. In so doing, the Government betrays the People, destroys personal autonomy, and undercuts the rule of law.

The People see through abridgment or curtailment of rights and liberties held by them. The Executive has secured unfettered power for itself, unto itself. Congress, in whom the Founders bestowed certain powers to prevent Executive overreach, is either oblivious to or complicit in this. Deference shown to another Branch of Government is laudable; acquiescence is regrettable, if, at times, forgivable; abject subservience is not.

Congress has abdicated its authority. In so doing, Congress is sealing its fate and the fate of the American people.

In the first decade of the 21st Century, Congress enacted a plethora of Statutes negatively impacting the Bill of Rights. Although aimed, ostensibly, at bolstering internal security, these Statutes clearly impinge on and infringe the rights and liberties of Americans. Two of the earliest include the 2001 “USA Patriot Act” and the “Homeland Security Act of 2002.” The latter Act authorized the creation of a vast bureaucratic structure, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). The stated purpose of the former is “to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes.” The two work in tandem. Both threaten personal autonomy and undermine individual liberty.



DHS: THE BIRTH OF A MONSTER

Richard Armey, a Republican Congressman, sponsored the Bill that became the “Homeland Security Act of 2002.” A majority of Republicans in the House supported it. Most Democrats did not; nor did the President, George W. Bush, at least initially. He saw a new cabinet level office problematic and said so. {citation omitted} Yet, a majority of House Republicans and every Senate Republican (save one who abstained) voted for enactment. So, President Bush reluctantly signed it into law on November 25, 2002. Republicans who generally and rightly bemoan the growth of Big Government were peculiarly pleased with their action here.

What did the American Public receive? The Public received a vastly expanded Government bureaucracy, a lumbering monolithic structure, consolidating several government agencies, duplicating many police and intelligence functions, expending tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer monies on programs that operate against Americans’ own interests, spreading its tentacles across the American landscape.

“A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME. . . .”

Prior to the attack on the twin towers, no one inside the U.S. Government or outside it used the word, ‘homeland,’ to describe the United States. And, ‘homeland’ never appeared as an appellation for a Government office, bureau, agency, or cabinet level department; nor did the media refer to the United States by it. Now, though, it’s part of the Government lexicon. The mainstream news media uses it incessantly, drilling it into the public psyche. Much thought must have gone into its creation.

How did the word arise as a political descriptor? Neither the news media nor the Government explains this. So, let’s hazard a guess. The word belies its innocuous tone. As applied to a vast, ponderous, monstrous bureaucratic structure, the word, ‘homeland,’ is neither quaint nor sweet. The word’s usage today alludes to an earlier era. Its progenitors invoke totalitarian regimes. Recall the application of similar words to other polities: ‘fatherland’ as an appellation for Germany under the Third Reich, and ‘motherland’ as an appellation for Stalinist Russia. Use of ‘homeland’ as a descriptor  for the United States and for a new cabinet level department is not accident or happenstance. Use of the word, ‘homeland,’ subtly ushers in a new political order: the rise of the Police State.

The mission of DHS is set forth, thus: “to secure the nation from the many threats we face. . . . Our duties are wide-ranging, but our goal is clear – keeping America safe.See www.dhs.gov/about-dhs. The mission statement seems straightforward and noble if also self-serving. But the phrases, “our duties are wide-ranging,” and “keeping America safe,” have ominous overtones. In fact, DHS, condescendingly, intends to protect the American public from itself.

CONTROL OF THE CITIZENRY

A definite tension exists between DHS counterterrorism and national security mandates and America’s Bill of Rights. In a 2009 report, the DHS said the fear of gun regulations and bans is linked to a rise in right-wing extremist groups. {citation omitted}

If a person merely has a fascination with firearms, professes a dislike for illegal immigrants, associates with others of like kind, and proclaims distrust of the Federal Government, under what legal theory does DHS purport to dispossess him of his firearms? Under what legal theory does DHS purport to limit that person’s right to associate with others? Under what legal theory does DHS purport to invade that person’s privacy? But, for all that, what might give birth to seeming extremism in a Nation’s citizenry?

May not extremism in a Nation’s Citizenry be due to a corresponding extremism linked to Government’s unreasonable, illegitimate, unconscionable intrusion on its Citizenry? An extreme response would not be unwarranted. Extremism would, in fact, be the reasonable expression of a Citizenry’s outrage toward its Government’s betrayal.

DHS tends to posit threats indiscriminately, under the guise of “keeping America safe.” It attempts to target ever more Americans as potential terror threats, and, in so doing, seeks to limit Americans’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, Americans’ First Amendment right of free speech and right of association, and Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to privacy.

Consider just one example: in 2009, “the TSA {Transportation Security Administration, an agency transferred to DHS from the Department of Transportation} detained a man . . . who intended to fly from St. Louis to Washington D.C. carrying . . . cash he had generated selling bumper-stickers for ‘Campaign for Liberty,’ a Ron Paul-led organization. As the state of Missouri had warned the TSA that illegal militia members were likely supporters of third-party organizations and candidates, he was temporarily detained.” {citation omitted}

DHS is a destroyer of Americans’ sacred rights and liberties because its policy considerations are aimed at the twin, ill-defined and unusually broad mandates of counterterrorism and national security – mandates at odds with the Bill of Rights.

WHAT SHOULD CONGRESS DO TO REIN IN DHS?

The impact on Americans’ rights and liberties in the era of DHS will continue to be severely tested. DHS will take draconian steps that upend the Bill of Rights. DHS will do this under the guise of “keeping America safe,” consistent with its broad counterterrorism and national security mandates. While DHS may, occasionally, have to backpedal, Congress should place constraints on DHS before the fact. Having created this multi-billion dollar monolithic nightmare, Congress owes the American people that much.

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About The Arbalest Quarrel

Arbalest Quarrel
Arbalest Quarrel

Arbalest Group created `The Arbalest Quarrel’ website for a special purpose. That purpose is to educate the American public about recent Federal and State firearms control legislation. No other website, to our knowledge, provides as deep an analysis or as thorough an analysis. Arbalest Group offers this information free.

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