Effects of Terrorism on My Life

A reader emailed me several days ago and stated his desire to ask a few questions and his concern that the email was monitored. My response was that it is probable that this is the situation, but to go ahead with the questions and if I considered anything legally compromising to me, well, I'd simply ignore it. I never heard back from him.

Most Americans have little idea as to the scope of the attack on civil liberties that has taken place since September 11, 2001 or its consequences for all. Foremost is the USA Patriot Act, pushed through Congress with the majority of representatives not even bothering to read it, a month after September 11th. The passing of Patriot and its successor Acts have allowed for the creation of a police state, one with no accountability for actors of government and secret files, preventing the dissemination of accurate information concerning police activities. There are no more checks and balances here.

I feel as if one day I woke up and there was no longer a Fourth Amendment, nothing between police power and the people, resulting in police doing whatever they desired. And what a scary world that is to wake up in – may it never happen to you!

Under the guise of a criminal investigation, actors of the State of Florida committed a lengthy list of violations of my civil rights. Under the shield of secrecy of the Patriot Act they would make sure that I could never prove it in a court of law.

While certain actors of the state wanted rid of me long before September 11th, the passing of Patriot in late October furnished them with necessary permissions to break into my home, terrorize my family, wiretap my telephones, track me wherever I went (or try), read and even divert my email among other violations. The key was that the provisions of Patriot provided the tools of secrecy to commit such acts without probable cause, a basis for the Fourth Amendment, and an attribute of a true constitutional democracy.

The facts of the matter are that these state actors found nothing usable in my house or in their wiretaps. Aside from the mental effects this had on both myself and my son, the financial loss was complete. I spent every dollar I had saved in a decade on my bond, discovery, investigation, process service, transcripts of depositions, and paying attorneys. Between attorney one and attorney two, I had no choice but to represent myself, through four months of living hell.

While most of the nation was busy fearing terrorists and possible future acts of terrorism, I was occupied by the actions of a kangaroo system of justice, police, and courts with no boundaries. I am certain that my situation is far from isolated. Why would I start fearing terrorists today? This would be quite a stretch considering what actors of my own government did to me, both state and federal. The greatest threat to the American people comes, not from foreign terrorists or Islamic fundamentalists, but from the actors of the American government itself.