Western Courier

Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: Opinion

Freedom of speech is something America prides itself on and something many passionate people use to their advantage.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution ensures that "Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

In relation to our inherent civil liberties as Americans, the House of Representatives passed a bill on Oct. 23, 2007, that would ultimately threaten our freedom of expression. The bill is titled H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.

Its central goal is summarized "to prevent homegrown terrorism, and for other purposes" (www.govtrack.us), which gives the impression of a valid attempt to protect the American people from terrorist attacks plotted here in the U.S.

The bill defines homegrown terrorism as "the use, planned use or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives."

In order to interpret such a long definition, it is imperative to understand how the government can classify all of these words, such as "force," to understand what actions the government will legally be able to investigate and/or punish.

BrassCheckTV.com spells out the government's definition of homegrown terrorism in layman's terms. First of all, the narrator of a video grouped in the section Attack on Civil Liberties recognizes that the words "force" and "violence" are separated, indicating that the government would not have to associate force with an act of violence in the event of punishing someone for violating this potential federal law.

The narrator used an online dictionary to define "force" - I looked it up the old-fashioned way, and found the same alarming definitions. According to the Webster's Universal College Dictionary, "force" has more than 32 different meanings. Among these definitions included the "power to influence," "persuasive power; power to convince" and, but not limited to, "any body of persons combined for joint action."

Continued...

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