Let's Hold The Dems Accountable, Part IV

If the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" had passed a Republican led House of Representatives, the Democrats would have rightly called it the most repressive piece of paranoid legislation since the USA PATRIOT Act. Yet the Democrat led HOR passed Rep. Jane Harman's (D-California) bill by a 404-6 vote and passage in the Senate is almost a certainty.

Historian Ralph Shaffer and co-author R. William Robinson characterize the legislation as a case of "Here Come the Thought Police." They write:

Ms. Harman, a California Democrat, thinks it likely that the United States will face a native brand of terrorism in the immediate future and offers a plan to deal with ideologically based violence.

But her plan is a greater danger to us than the threats she fears. Her bill tramples constitutional rights by creating a commission with sweeping investigative power and a mandate to propose laws prohibiting whatever the commission labels “homegrown terrorism.”

The proposed commission is a menace through its power to hold hearings, take testimony and administer oaths, an authority granted to even individual members of the commission - little Joe McCarthys - who will tour the country to hold their own private hearings. An aura of authority will automatically accompany this congressionally authorized mandate to expose native terrorism.

Ms. Harman’s proposal includes an absurd attack on the Internet, criticizing it for providing Americans with “access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda,” and legalizes an insidious infiltration of targeted organizations. The misnamed “Center of Excellence,” which would function after the commission is disbanded in 18 months, gives the semblance of intellectual research to what is otherwise the suppression of dissent.

While its purpose is to prevent terrorism, the bill doesn’t criminalize any specific conduct or contain penalties. But the commission’s findings will be cited by those who see a terrorist under every bed and who will demand enactment of criminal penalties that further restrict free speech and other civil liberties. Action contrary to the commission’s findings will be interpreted as a sign of treason at worst or a lack of patriotism at the least.

While Ms. Harman denies that her proposal creates “thought police,” it defines “homegrown terrorism” as “planned” or “threatened” use of force to coerce the government or the people in the promotion of “political or social objectives.” That means that no force need actually have occurred as long as the government charges that the individual or group thought about doing it.

Did voters create a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress for this? Harman faced a surprisingly strong primary challenge from Marcy Winograd in June of 2006. Democrats should insist that she be challenged again.

*Part I (Nov. 13, 2006): The Dem Agenda
*Part II (Nov. 20, 2006): Ethics Reform
*Part III (Dec. 5, 2006): Robert Gates' Free Ride