Truth in acronyms

I think it is a legal requirement for all federal statutes to have official names that form a nifty acronym. Take for instance the Patriot Act, whose official acronym is USA PATRIOT, which stands for

Uniting and
Strengthening
America by

Providing
Appropriate
Tools
Required to
Intercept and
Obstruct
Terrorism

However, given the provisions of the Act, I think USA PATRIOT Act is not really accurate. A more truthful acronym would be USA COMRADE Act, which stands for

Unilateral
Suppression and
Abrogation of

Constitutionally
Ordained
Mandates by
Reactionary
Autocrats with
Delusions of
Empire

I am all for catching terrorists, and I am even willing to give up some degree of civil liberties for that cause, but the Patriot Act goes way beyond combating terrorism. I might not have a problem with the Act if our government had actually used it to fight terrorism and produced tangible results--which has not happened. What the so-called Patriot Act does--especially when combined with the Homeland Security Act--is create a framework which could easily be built into a structure of government suppression and intrusion into anyone's life.

Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, the only Senator to vote against the Patriot Act, made a speech about the Act on October 25, 2001. I will discuss other parts of that speech in subsequent posts, but for now I highlight this exceprt:

Some have said rather cavalierly that in these difficult times we must accept some reduction in our civil liberties in order to be secure.

Of course, there is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country that allowed the police to search your home at any time for any reason; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to open your mail, eavesdrop on your phone conversations, or intercept your email communications; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to hold people in jail indefinitely based on what they write or think, or based on mere suspicion that they are up to no good, then the government would no doubt discover and arrest more terrorists.

But that probably would not be a country in which we would want to live. And that would not be a country for which we could, in good conscience, ask our young people to fight and die. In short, that would not be America.

Preserving our freedom is one of the main reasons that we are now engaged in this new war on terrorism. We will lose that war without firing a shot if we sacrifice the liberties of the American people.

(emphasis added). Since 9-11, I have often heard the phrase "Freedom isn't free." I agree with that, but there is something else we should keep in mind: Life without liberty is not freedom.