The Right Embraced Fascism After 9/11 and Continue to Destroy Democracy

The FBI made a clear statement which informed everyone in our country that the greatest danger to our nation’s people in the 21st century is domestic terrorism.

Bush 43 Failed Our Country in 2001

The Bush 43 Administration began the destruction of justice in America after it failed to prevent the cowardly attacks on 9/11. A rash and incompetent legislature created the Department of Homeland Security and legislation called the Patriot Act. Thus, The Constitution was under attack.

President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney went on vacation in 2001, although they were warned that an attack on the United States was “imminent” by all three major security agencies. After the “day of infamy,” Republicans used tactics of anger and fear to create a fascist agency and a law based on fascist ideals.

An Unconstitutional Government Agency Promoting Fascism

Homeland Security is allowed to bypass the Constitutional rights of American citizens they “think” might be involved in any form of terrorism. The Patriot Act removes freedoms and privacy guaranteed by the Constitution. So there is no requirement for proof or even probable cause.

Under Trump’s failed administration fascism moved quickly. He was and is acting under orders from Vladimir Putin. Today its escalation has reached the entire party on the right side of the aisle. The once “Grand Old Party” is now the “American Fascist Party.” However, the truth is that the former Republican Party began morphing into a fascist leaning entity in 1981. Ronald Reagan demanded unquestioned loyalty. Free thought and independent thinking was forbidden. He is the president who began the right-wing’s wars on minorities, the working class, and women’s rights. It was Reagan who rejected the principle of equal protection under the law, and it was he who began the idea of making his devotion to Christianity a reason to make a single religion the only acceptable religion in America.

Congress Should Have Never Passed the Patriot Act

These are the Constitutional rights which have been violated by the Patriot Act.

First Amendment – Freedom of religion, speech, assembly, and the press. Fourth Amendment – Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. Fifth Amendment – No person to be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Sixth Amendment – Right to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury, right to be informed of the facts of the accusation, right to confront witnesses and have the assistance of counsel. Eighth Amendment – No excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishment shall be imposed. Fourteenth Amendment – All persons (citizens and noncitizens) within the US are entitled to due process and the equal protection of the laws.

Invasion of privacy and unlawful imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay are the most frequent violations of basic human rights.

Homeland Security and its personal gestapo known as ICE have reigned terror across the United States for more than 20 years. Now, It’s time to eliminate these costly and fascist organizations and repeal the Patriot Act once and for all.

Op-ed by James Turnage

Find my nine novels on Amazon’s Kindle

Sources:

ACLU: The USA PATRIOT ACT and Government Actions that Threaten Our Civil Liberties

Constitution Center: Constitutional cases resulting from the 9/11 attacks

Top and featured image courtesy of Axel Houmadi‘s Unsplash page – Creative Commons License