When Rep. Heather Wilson visited the Bosque School Monday to give a first-hand lesson about the Congress and democracy, Brynne Jojola, 13, queried her about the Patriot Act.
"Wilson called criticism of the act, enacted after the attack on the World Trade Center, ‘urban myths.’ She cited government access to library records as ‘nothing new’ and new wiretapping laws as an update for the age of the Internet and cellular phones."
That’s from Andrea Schoellkopf’s report in the West Side Journal Jan. 13.
The story does not tell us specifcally what Brynne asked, but we know that the government rounded up almost 1,000 people in the aftermath of 9/11 and their names (with the exception of 129 who have been charged) remain secret. The government tells us it cleared others and deported some on immigration violations.
We also know that the Supreme Court will soon take up the case of an American citizen arrested and held without charges an an "enemy combatant" as well as the cases of 16 foreigners held without charges in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Secret arrests. Secret, long-term imprisonment. Arrest without charges.
Are these what Wilson derides as "urban myths?"
What shocks me is Wilson’s reference to the FBI’s access to public library records as "nothing new." If so, why isn’t she raising the American flag and spurring an attack on this violation of the spirit, perhaps the letter, of the Constitution?
Because the Constitution is sacred to conservatives and she’s no conservative, that’s why. She’s an apologist for the growing police power in Washington.
I hope the Bosque School faculty saw Wilson’s comments as the inspiration for a great lesson in political science. They might start with the Magna Carta and study the growth of democracy via key documents over
the years, winding up with the US Constitution! And including, of course, the Bill of Rights.
Then have the kids put the Constiution and the Patriot Act side-by-side.
Good lesson, huh?