When opponents become criminals: war with political speech begins

You can't have both ways.

If the government allows you to act like a police state, you cannot live in the Constitutional Republic.

If you allow the government to operate like a dictatorship, you cannot argue that you value freedom.

If the government allows it to treat those who are willing to be disrespectful and completely ignored by the rule of law, then you cannot expect to respect your rights.

It always has a boomerang effect.

The dangerous practices that the government can implement right now can be used against you when these same practices decide to aim for you, whether it is in the name of national security, protecting America's borders, or making America great again.

Arresting a political activist engaged in legal, non-violent protests is simply a shot across the bow.

The oppression of cold, oppositional voices of political speech is one of the first signs of being in the midst of hostile takeovers by forces that are usually not free and friendly.

This is how to get started.

Consider that anti-war protester and recent Columbia University alumnus, Halil Mahmoud, was arrested on Saturday night by an ice agent who appears to be ignorant about his status as a legal US resident and his rights. It also said that these very same ice agents threatened to arrest Mahmoud's eight-month pregnant wife, American citizen.

This does not seem to be a system that respects people's rights.

Certainly, these ice agents were “a lot of orders,” but showed no concern that the orders they were given were launched, politically motivated and unconstitutional.

If this is actually the first of many arrests, what's next? More than that, who is next?

We are all at risk.

History shows that when governments assert their power to silence objections, whether in the name of national security, border protection, or law and order, their power is rarely limited. What starts with the crackdown on so-called “threats” will soon expand to include those who challenge those in power.

President Trump has made it clear that Mahmoud's arrest was “the first arrest of many people going forward.” He openly states his intention to target non-citizens who engage in activities he deems to be in opposition to our interests.

If history is a guide, then the next target is not just immigrants and foreign-born activists. They become American citizens who dare to speak up.

Mahmoud is a test case.

As journalists Gabe Kaminsky, Madeleine Rowley and Maya Sulkin point out, Mahmoud's arrest for being a “threat to US foreign policy and national security interests” (note: he has not been accused of actually breaking the law) is being used as a blueprint for other arrests.

What this means is anyone who dares to oppose the government and its foreign policy and expresses that differences of opinion could be viewed as a threat to the country's “national security interests.”

The right to oppose government misconduct is typical of freedom, but throughout history, the US president has used their power to curb opposition.

Once the objection is labelled as a threat, it is only a matter of time before the so-called extremist laws are used against the public. Just criticizing, protesting, or refusing to adapt can be enough to put someone on a watch list.

I've seen this before.

Governments have a long list of “suspectful” ideologies and actions that they use to justify surveillance and suppression. Immigration may be justification today. Tomorrow, it could be the opposite of all forms.

It is a system of pleading to be abused by power-hungry bureaucrats who are desperate to maintain their strength at the cost of all their sacrifices.

This is not just one management or one policy set. This is a broad pattern of government, allowing it to unfold, not checked, not challenged. And at the heart of this loss of freedom is the fundamental misconceptions or even deliberate abandonment that sovereignty actually means in America.

Sovereignty is a dusty, outdated term that returns to an era in which kings and emperors ruled unrighted masses with absolute power. When the Americans declared their independence from England and rejected the absolute authority of George III, they turned the idea of ​​sovereignty into their minds. In doing so, Americans asserted their own right of autonomy and established themselves as the ultimate authority and power.

In other words, as the preamble to the Constitution states in America, “our people” – sovereign citizens – calls shots.

So when the government acts, we are the rulers, so we are to do so on our behalf.

That's not exactly how it turned out, but is that so?

Over two hundred years since we boldly embarked on this experiment of autonomy, we have steadily lost our position in the grip of government's brave power, and were forced upon us under the name of national security.

President Trump wants us to believe that the threats we face (either imaginary or not) are very ominous and overwhelming.

Don't believe it. That argument has been tested before.

We are now walking on dangerous paths.

Political arrest. harassment. Restraining the opposition. Retribution. Detention centre for political prisoners.

These portray what should come if the Trump administration takes over the threat of cracking down on everyone who exercises its freedom of speech and the initial amendment to protest.

We are adapting to patterns of bold grabs of power, lawlessness, threats, harassment and human rights abuses by government officials. Yet, in the midst of this merciless erosion of our freedom, the concept of sovereignty, that is, the fundamental idea that people, not government, hold the ultimate power, is largely forgotten.

Don't let yourself forget.

As I reveal in my book Battlefield America: The War for the American People , in its fictional counterpart, Erik Blair Diaries, authoritarianism is not a distant threat the moment these acts of aggression become a new normal. That will become reality.

About John & Neesha Whitehead:

Constitutional lawyer and author John W. Whitehead is the founder and chairman of the Rutherford Institute. His latest book, The Erik Blair Diaries and Battlefield America: The War on the American People, is available at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted (email protection). Nisha Whitehead is the executive director of the Rutherford Institute. Information about the Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.