ZGram - 11/22/2002 - "Ron Paul on 'The Homeland Security Monstrosity'"

irimland@zundelsite.org irimland@zundelsite.org
Fri, 22 Nov 2002 07:57:18 -0800


ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

November 22, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

I am always glad when I see a new Ron Paul release.  Few elected 
officials these days talk straight and walk their talk as this 
courageous Texan does.  Here he writes about the Homeland Security 
Monstrosity:

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The Homeland Security Monstrosity
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)
November 19, 2002

Congress spent just a few short hours last week voting to create the 
biggest new federal bureaucracy since World War II, not that the 
media or even most members of Congress paid much attention to the 
process. Yet our most basic freedoms as Americans - privacy in our 
homes, persons, and possessions; confidentiality in our financial and 
medical affairs; openness in our conversations, telephone, and 
internet use; unfettered travel; indeed the basic freedom not to be 
monitored as we go through our daily lives - have been dramatically 
changed.

The last time Congress attempted a similarly ambitious reorganization 
of the government was with the creation of the Department of Defense 
in 1947. Back then, congressional hearings on the matter lasted two 
years before President Truman finally signed legislation. Even after 
this lengthy deliberation, however, organizational problems with the 
new department lasted more than 40 years! What do we expect from a 
huge bureaucracy conceived virtually overnight, by a Congress that 
didn't even read the bill that creates it? Surely more deliberation 
was appropriate before establishing a giant new federal agency with 
170,000 employees!

When the Homeland Security department first was conceived, some 
congressional leaders and administration officials outrageously told 
a credulous rank-and-file Congress that the new department would be 
"budget neutral." The agency simply would be a reorganization of 
existing federal employees, we were told, and would not increase the 
federal budget. In fact, the agency was touted as increasing 
efficiency, rather than expanding federal power. Of course the 
original 32 page proposal sent over by the White House quickly grew 
to 282 pages in House committees, ending up at more than 500 pages in 
the final version voted on last week - with a $3 billion price tag 
just for starters. The sheer magnitude of the bill, and the technical 
complexity of it, makes it impossible for anyone to understand 
completely. Rest assured that the new department represents a huge 
increase in the size and scope of the federal government that will 
mostly serve to spy on the American people. Can anyone, even the most 
partisan Republican, honestly say with a straight face that the 
Department of Homeland Security does not expand the federal 
government?

The list of dangerous and unconstitutional powers granted to the new 
Homeland Security department is lengthy. Warrantless searches, forced 
vaccinations of whole communities, federal neighborhood snitch 
programs, federal information databases, and a sinister new 
"Information Awareness Office" at the  Pentagon that uses military 
intelligence to spy on domestic citizens are just a few of the 
troubling aspects of the new legislation. To better understand the 
potential damage to our liberties, I strongly recommend a November 
14th New York Times op-ed piece by William Safire entitled "You Are A 
Suspect." The article provides a devastating critique of the new 
Homeland Security bureaucracy and a chilling warning of what the 
agency could become. The article can be read on my website, under the 
section entitled "Speeches."

Ron Paul, M.D., represents the 14th Congressional District of Texas 
in the United States House of Representatives.

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