Those who believe that the Bush administration is truly trying to protect American freedoms are either ignorant or deluded. The fact is, we have lost more liberties since G.W. Bush became president than during any administration since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Associated Press provided the following list of some of the fundamental liberties that have been lost under Bush:
· FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigations.
· FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once- public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records questions.
· FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation.
· RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.
· FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES: Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.
· RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.
· RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.
The most disturbing thing about this is the total apathy and indifference of the vast majority of the American people to these tyrannical abridgments of our freedoms. Beyond that, people who shout the loudest about protecting our freedoms are also the loudest supporters of a man who has done much to eviscerate our freedoms.
Because of the broad support of conservatives and Christians, Bush has been able to do what Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Janet Reno could never do: dismantle our constitutional, God-given liberties.
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