Republicans Covering Their Corrupt Tracks

What happened to freedom of the press? You know, that FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT, written by James Madison, intended to ensure that America had a free, independent press that can help keep government honest. It is the job of the press to expose government corruption. And yet, the United States Congress is considering a law that would imprison journalists who publish stories containing information which the Bush administration wants to hide from the public. At a House Intelligence Committee hearing, several anti-Constitution Republicans expressly urged that our country start throwing reporters in jail: (from the May 27th NY Times):

Some Republicans on the committee advocated the criminal prosecution of The Times. Their comments partly echoed and partly amplified recent statements by
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that the Justice Department had the authority to prosecute reporters for publishing classified information. . . .

"I believe the attorney general and the president should use all of the power of existing law to bring criminal charges," said Representative Rick Renzi, Republican of Arizona.

The Bush administration wants to hide it's corruption and cronyism under the carpet and the corrupt Republicans in Congress want to help him do it. By contrast, Democrats want to protect the First Amendment rights of journalists and prevent the Federal government from hiding things from the public that foots the bill. From the same NY Times article:

"If anyone here wants to imprison journalists," Ms. Harman said, "I invite them to spend some time in China, Cuba or North Korea and see whether they feel safer."

TRUE Conservatives, who I don't always agree with, fully recognize the anti-American nature of the Republican attacks on our Constitution. In the National Review Jonathan Adler wrote something that could come right from my own pages, despite the fact that we come from different political philosophies:

The Founding Fathers understood that a free and independent press is critical to self-governance and to the constitutional order they established. The Constitution states that Congress “shall make no law” abridging the freedom of the press. This mandate is clear and unmistakable. The press should be free to publish news reports without fear that Congress will criminalize those publications.

Liberals, True Conservatives and Congressional Democrats agree: Bush and the corrupt Republicans in Congress are dead wrong on this issue. Protect America's freedoms! The Federal government cannot and should note be able to declare anything it wants "classified" and imprison anyone who writes about it. That is dictatorship. That is the kind of thing that America USED to fight against. In fact that is the kind of thing REPUBLICANS used to fight against. But not under Bush. Under Bush, DeLay, Ney and the rest of the Halliburton Republicans, the Federal government has usurped the right to control all information, control the press, and to silence dissent.

And THAT, my friend, is anti-American.