American Politics Journal

Politics 101
Today's subject: Civil Liberties
by Steve Young

Jan. 31, 2002 -- LOS ANGELES (AEFCTT/APJP) -- Civil Liberties are good.

They give us rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

They are another way to say "Freedom."

Civil Liberties are what protects us from tyranny,

Tyranny from evildoers who want to hurt our country.

When an evildoer acts reprehensibly they lose their Civil Liberties,

Especially in a war on terrorism.

Then, not only do the evildoers lose their civil liberties,

So do we.

This is called, "Curtailing to cast a wide net."

"Curtailing" is necessary so we can find out everything we can about those evildoers.

And find out who else might be in cahoots with the evildoers,

No matter who, No matter where it may lead.

That way we can stop further evildoing before it is done.

Important people say that this is because "extraordinary times call for extraordinary actions."

When a large corporation is the evildoer it works a little different.

Especially when the large corporation has many ties to the people who can take away our Civil Liberties.

In these cases the evildoers are protected by what is called "Executive Immunity."

Executive Immunity is used when a President or Vice-President says something like "There is no evidence to indicate that anybody did anything wrong in the administration."

That means we should trust them to make that determination.

That also means that WE cannot be trusted to make that determination.

It’s a lot like what a lot of people say Democratic evildoers do when they refuse to give us our tax money back.

They say that Democrats don’t trust us with our own money.

Republicans don’t trust us with Civil Liberties.

Vice President Dick Cheney says Democrats are on a "Fishing Expedition."

When Republicans "Fish," it’s called an "Investigation.

Whatever you call it, it wouldn’t happen if there were "Full Disclosure."

"Full Disclosure" is when you let everyone see the truth for themselves,

Like in "The Emperor’s Clothes."

But, alas, that’s just another fairy tale.

Steve Young, contributing editor at the WGA's Written By magazine, is a Prism Award winner and a Humanitas Prize nominee for his television writing, and is author of the forthcoming book, "Great Failures Of The Extremely Successful" (Tallfellow Press 2002). He can be reached at theeothersteveyoung@juno.com