LATEST EROSION OF FREEDOMS NOTHING NEW!

Monday, May 4th, 2026

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

LATEST EROSION OF FREEDOMS NOTHING NEW!

Congress re-authorized the so-called Patriot Act last week. The law has created an invasive federal surveillance system that began with lies that undermined the liberty of millions of Americans.

Did this unconstitutional act begin the movement of the country  towards a “Brave New World?”  Hardly.  This type of deterioration of one’s constitutional rights has been going on for years.  The press turned its back to gross attacks on our individual freedoms , as the Patriot Act “legalized” a litany of personal and private invasions that our constitution was intended to prevent.  Both Democrats and Republicans have stood by and allowed the Patriot Act to sweep individual protections under the rug.

 In an interview with CNN, former FBI counter terrorism agent Tim Clemente said that the FBI could listen to phone conversations between anybody they wanted.  “Welcome to America,” he said. “All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.”

The Guardian’s columnist Glenn Greenwald took it a step further by concluding that all digital communications are recorded and stored by the government, saying: “This revelation, that every single telephone call made by and among Americans is recorded and stored is something which most people undoubtedly do not know, even if a small group of people who focus on surveillance issues believe it to be true.”

Now I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but this is a damning indictment of Big Brother at its worst, illegally invading the privacy of every American.  But is the daily illegal monitoring of the phone calls made by millions of Americans a startling revelation that has just been revealed?  Is recent Administration’s use of the IRS for political purposes unique?  Hardly. In his book, A Law Unto Itself: the IRS and Abuse of Power, author David Burnham describes how presidents going all the way back to Herbert Hoover have misused the Internal Revenue Service for personal vendettas.  Franklin Roosevelt used the IRS to go after a former Senator in my state, Huey Long.  President John Kennedy authorized IRS investigations into the John Birch Society. And who can forget Richard Nixon’s “enemies list?”

So when your congressman or senator starts calling for special prosecutors to investigate the abuses by the Justice Department and the IRS, ask them why they did not stand up in defense of each American citizen and demand protection from invasion of those enumerated individual rights found in the Constitution?  We are all glad some members of congress are jumping to the defense of the press. But what about all of us little guys?

For good reason, there are calls of a tyrannical federal government that intimidates its citizens and puts a chill over freedom of speech.  But all this undermining of basic freedoms did not just begin recently.  Unfortunately, it is part of the darker side of American history.  When the Patriot Act was passed into law back in 2001, the intimidation and spying increased tenfold.  And these very members of congress, who are protesting so loudly now, stood by silently and did nothing.

If this Washington crowd wants to see the real threat to American democracy, they should just take a long, hard look into the mirror.  It was Pogo who said it best.  “We have seen the enemy, and the enemy is us.”

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com.