The Big Brother that we forgot to keep in check??? (A 1984 reference for 2008)

Homeland Security has been allowed to pass some very, let's say interesting, legislature in the days following September 11, 2001. Some of the laws were implemented while we were in a state of shock and as a whole needed to see that our safety was actively being considered in Washington. This ratonale to calm the American's fears was an acceptable step and is not to be disapproved of in retrospect. However, the continual implementation of laws that are passed under the thick veil that has come to overshadow any freedom preserving purpose is becoming worrysome. One of the most concerning developments in this legislative onslaught is the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus.

Habeas Corpus is not an American invention, but rather an early British law. It was passed into law in 1215 and then reinforced in 1679 by the implementation of the Writ of Habeas Corpus law, and if you want to read the entire law it can be found at http://www.constitution.org/eng/habcorpa.htm . When the American Constitution was drafted with the Bill of Rights, this British law transfered almost directly into the first American law and was enforced as a foundation law until the Civil War in which President Lincoln issued a proclamation so as to arrest the American "Rebels and Insurgents" (http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=425) in 1861. http://www.usconstitution.net/glossary.html#HABCOR tells what this statute is, and http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A1Sec9 is the constitutional wording of the writ.

Now that we know something about this law, the importance is easily seen, but none of that provides an answer to why president bush felt that that in 2006, five years after America was attacked and no further attacks had occured, the public Safety now required this move. Is there a Rebellion going on that I have been totally oblivious about, or are we being Invaded by a army or militia of blood thirsty insurgents? I know that it is a little late to be raising this question, but I just reached voting age, and I would have never known about this act if one of my coworkers had not mentioned it in an offhand rant. However, are we expected to make relevant decisions if no one tells us what is really going on? America is heading in a very foreboding direction and if the federal government continues to make questionable decisions and the upcoming voting population is surprisingly unconcerned and unresponsive to the transgressions that the govenrment is committing on their personal freedoms.
When a president can change such an influential American liberty with little and seemingly insignificant opposition, we should take note and be concerned. This country is taking over the civil liberties and the American public can stand by and lose them, or they can remind the system of how our government is to be run, but it has to be a big reminder. The time for a tap on the shoulder has passed and no one bothered to say anything to the students to indicate the state of the government that they are about to inherit. The bullying nature of our govenment is disturbing and cannot lay in the shadows of our conversations and thoughts any longer.