June 4, 1989

Twenty years ago today, in Tianenmen Square, thousands of student protesters were killed and injured. Soldiers fired upon unarmed citizens and ran over their bodies with tanks. Their attempt to bring reform and democracy to China should not be forgotten, even though the Chinese gov't continues to censor and silence any discussion of the incident. It also serves as a reminder to stand vigilant against the dull tyranny of establishment, and of what could happen if gov't power goes unchecked.

Free-speech zones. Suspension of habeas corpus. Domestic wire-tapping and spying. Presidents declaring wars. The detention of US citizens in military jails without criminal charges (2 that are known). The detention of foreign nationals in Guantanamo and other locations, with no due process and purportedly outside of any US or international legal system. Rendition. Sneak and Peek searches. The nebulous definition of 'domestic terrorism'.

All still in place under Obama, whose promises for change ring hollow. We are still in Iraq, with no sign of ever leaving. We still have the Patriot Act. The erosion of liberties is a gradual beast, but we still have an option to peacably restore our freedoms granted by the Constution and Bill of Rights, unlike China. Today, our biggest enemy is apathy. Tomorrow, it's the tanks in the public square.

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

- Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 2nd paragraph.

Everyone cares about liberty, but sentiment means nothing without action. To the Stepford Republicans and Zombie Democrats who would sooner silence such a sentiment when directed at their Bush or their Obama, are you prepared to call Thomas Jefferson anti-American?