In article <bt2nj0$28i3$1@pencil.math.missouri.edu>, MichaelP says...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/154653_edwenk31.html?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=2

Seattle Post Intelligencer  Wednesday, December 31, 2003

	By EDWARD WENK JR. GUEST COLUMNIST   *Edward Wenk Jr. was the 
first science adviser to Congress, on policy staffs of Presidents Kennedy, 
Johnson and Nixon and was founding director of the University of 
Washington's Program in Social Management of Technology.

The shock and awe of 9/11 has not faded. Americans remain in jeopardy of 
terrorists willing to die simply to lull and frighten innocent civilians. 
Taking precautions to preserve our security is essential, but in that 
process, have we self-inflicted a second class of danger that threatens 
our cherished freedom, justice and democracy, a condition grim enough to 
deserve code red?

Consider the USA Patriot Act titled "Uniting and strengthening America by 
Providing Appropriate Funds to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism."

Noble as that objective is, the act's provisions are scary. Government can 
now collect data on library withdrawals, charge card records, medical and 
financial histories. Surveillance can be ratcheted to monitor your e-mail, 
wiretap you under a generic warrant, search your home without a warrant 
and label you a "terrorist" if you are among activists exercising rights 
to dissent. In a swoon of hysteria, Congress passed this statute in 45 
days with only two hours of hearings

Pending is Patriot Act II, the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, to 
legalize indefinite detention without charges, to end court-imposed limits 
to spying on religious and political organizations and to withdraw 
citizenship for civil disobedience.

Constitutional lawyers claim the First Amendment is violated by letting 
the FBI investigate those engaged in free expression, free association and 
unfettered practice of religion. The Fourth Amendment is violated by 
intrusive surveillance without probable cause, infringing privacy of 
targeted individuals. Human rights to moral order are maimed as aliens are 
tried in military tribuna1s able to impose death sentences without appeal.

Ponder even more zealous implementation by Attorney General John Ashcroft 
should the United States be attacked by terrorists with a nuclear weapon.

If these acts stir alarms, connect the dots of other risks to democracy:
 * The Electoral College created by the Constitution has proven obsolete. 
It led to George W. Bush's presidency even though Al Gore had a popular 
majority of 540,000. The election turned on electoral votes in Florida 
where three counties were in dispute. Voting machines left hanging chads 
and butterfly ballots that warranted a recount. With the nation paralyzed 
by uncertainty, a country judge in Tallahassee, the Florida Supreme Court 
and its Legislature ignited a saga of recounts and deadlines. The U.S. 
Supreme Court abruptly stopped proceedings that would likely have shown 
Gore the victor. Citizens didn't elect Bush; the Supreme Court appointed 
him illegally.
To block a replay requires a constitutional amendment. Since that process 
takes years, improvements for the 2004 election have been mandated in 
voting machinery.
 * Machines now being acquired are highly vulnerable to fraud. Corporate 
owners will only rent and not sell their equipment, keeping inner workings 
secret from election officials and providing no paper trail for recounts.
 * The concentration of media also threatens democracy because citizens 
can be swamped with biased news or blocked from any. Democracy requires 
that those who govern do so at the informed consent of the governed. By 
allowing a few network operators to own a majority of stations in a given 
area, and by abandoning principles of "equal time," the Federal 
Communications Commission lets stations broadcast political propaganda of 
authorities in power -- entertaining but not enlightening.
 * Reforms in campaign funding do not diminish the imperative to raise 
funds for TV ads. Time and energy thus required of candidates dilutes 
their primary role as policy-makers.
 * The military-industrial-congressional complex controls half the 
national budget and subverts priorities preferred by the electorate.
 * The White House blocks freedom of information and keeps secret names 
of campaign contributors seeking access to power as major policies are 
drafted. Vice President Dick Cheney hides his cadre of advisers on energy 
policy. The administration's rationale for war with Iraq wanders while the 
public wonders about military intelligence and true presidential goals.
 * The White House lacks tolerance for healthy dissent. The most 
influential advisers have the same biases as the president, nurturing 
error, blunder and folly.
 * Redistricting anticipated by the Constitution to reflect population 
shifts has been pathologically distorted by gerrymandering so that 
incumbent Republicans are virtually guaranteed re-election.
 * Education of children neglects the beauty of democracy with its civic 
responsibilities, so few young people vote.
 * Democracy is not born in the genes. It takes continuing diligence. 
While our government tries earnestly to seed democracy abroad in the 
Middle East, at home it, ironically, shrinks democracy and even the 
appetite for freedom.

Vigilance is essential about physical threats from abroad, but we must 
also guard against erosion of our liberties and invasion of our privacy. 
The electorate should insist that Congress serve as a balance wheel, not a 
rubber stamp, that elected officials be held accountable, that public 
interest advocacy be nourished and that the media be free to practice 
journalism's highest standards.

With dots connected, these 10 threats to democracy are at a level of Code 
Red.