DISPATCHES By Hank Kalet The Patriot Act doesn’t really protect Americans.
The South Brunswick Township Council has added the Middlesex County town to a growing and distinguished list of communities around the country that are standing up for the Bill of Rights.
Last week, it unanimously adopted a resolution that calls for Congress to repeal several sections of the USA Patriot Act, which the resolution says "erode the public’s right to privacy, right to due process, right to counsel, right to be free from any unreasonable searches and seizures and right to basic First Amendment freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States."
The USA Patriot Act officially the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act has been on the books since October 2001, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when it was passed under cover of night with little debate and then signed into law by President George W. Bush.
I’ve been critical of the Patriot Act since its passage. The legislation offers few real protections for Americans, while unnecessarily expanding the powers of both federal and local law enforcement organizations. It is, to put it mildly, an offense to the Bill of Rights, the document that defines what is most valuable about the American republic.
And I’m not alone. Critics of the Patriot Act include not only liberal and left-leaning groups like the American Civil Liberties Union or the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, but conservatives like former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, who have raised concerns about the legislation’s impact on the Fourth Amendment. Mr. Barr has said that the Patriot Act "threatens to eviscerate the Fourth Amendment guarantees against unreasonable searches and seizures, even as it undermines the notion of privacy embodied therein" and that so-called "sneak-and-peek" warrants turn "a man’s home (into) the government’s play box."
The Patriot Act like proposals to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for instance was tied to Sept. 11 without it actually being about Sept. 11. It was as the ACLU has pointed out "part of a longstanding law enforcement wish list that had been previously rejected by Congress, in some cases repeatedly." The president and his Republican allies in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives took advantage of the fear following the attacks to push the legislation through.
In doing so, it trampled on the Bill of Rights, shifting the balance too far in the direction of law enforcement and away from individual rights.
In advocating the council resolution last week, the half dozen or so South Brunswick residents made clear that the Patriot Act was an unwarranted expansion of government power.
"I believe the Patriot Act presently tilts heavily toward government power and too far away from individual freedom," said Kendall Park resident Herb Gopstein, one of a half dozen local residents who pushed the council to pass the resolution.
Jane Snyder, also of Kendall Park, strongly opposes the Patriot Act as well. She met with Mr. Gopstein and several other residents and got some help from U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, a Democrat who represents South Brunswick. Rep. Holt opposed the reauthorization of the Patriot Act and has been working to delete its most noxious elements.
She also relied on information provided by the ACLU and a report by the Century Foundation on the Patriot Act.
The group of citizens, which also included Juan Lebraun and Ervine Rips, presented the resolution to the council last week and the council agreed to adopt it, which it did Tuesday.
So now, South Brunswick has joined about 400 other towns across the country including Franklin Township, Highland Park, Lawrence, Princeton Borough, West Windsor and others in New Jersey in asking that the legislation be revamped to "respect and not intrude upon the fundamental rights and liberties of all people."
I would hope that the governing bodies in Cranbury, Jamesburg and Monroe along with the rest of the state follow South Brunswick’s lead. The more that go on record in support of the Bill of Rights, the better chance we have of trimming the Patriot Act back or killing it altogether.
Hank Kalet is managing editor of the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press. His e-mail is hkalet@pacpub.com.