by Bob Barr | Feb 22, 2022 | Daily Caller Article |
Daily CallerOn Feb. 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave Canadians a Valentine’s Day present, invoking the draconian “Emergencies Act” and suspending a wide range of civil liberties otherwise enjoyed by his countrymen.Lest Americans conclude that our constitutional republic is safe from such facially dictatorial actions, they should know that under existing federal laws and the laws of every state, the president or a governor could take similar “emergency” action at any time they decide an “emergency” presents itself. COVID has demonstrated this is spades.Regardless of whether a real emergency exists prior to a president or governor invoking such powers, and regardless of whether such declaration is for a statutorily limited time, consequential damage to the fabric of a free society results. At a minimum, declaring an “emergency” and suspending individual liberties serves as a “warning” to citizens that they had best be careful what they say and do in the future.Trudeau’s actions in declaring a “national emergency” because of an irksome, but peaceful, trucker’s strike should cause Americans to pay far closer attention to “emergency powers” laws here at home. Doing so might force some of our countrymen to question the abject fear that has undergirded much of public policy in the United States since the terror attacks of 9/11 — made far worse by the manner in which governments at all levels have responded to the COVID pandemic in the past biennium.From a practical standpoint, as we see in Canada, it matters little whether the declaration of the “emergency” fits clearly within the four corners of the emergency law that is invoked. What matters is the presence of...
by Bob Barr | Feb 16, 2022 | Townhall Article |
TownhallDonald Trump warned Americans about the Deep State. Instead of listening, Democrats (the Party of yore that actually cared about abusive government power) and their cronies in the Mainstream Media mocked him for peddling an “Alt-Right conspiracy.” Not only do we now have more than sufficient proof that the Deep State exists, but clear evidence it has grown stronger, bolder, and more dangerous. In just the past week, two shocking reports have come to light that detail the extent to which the Deep State has flourished in the shadows. The first comes from Senators Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich, who, in a just-declassified letter to the country’s top Foreign Intelligence officials, called for full disclosure of a previously classified, April 2021 report by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB). That report details how the CIA “secretly conducted its own bulk program…entirely outside the statutory framework that Congress and the public believe govern this collection, and without any of the judicial, congressional or even executive branch oversight…” The second example of Deep State growth comes in a public filing just last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, by Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed by President Trump in 2019 to investigate FBI wrongdoing. The document details what amounts to a clear conspiracy to infiltrate the office of candidate Trump, President-elect Trump, and then President Trump; not only unlawfully gathering information on him, but feeding it back to the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party.One of these allegations alone is enough to make the hair on the back of one’s neck stand on end. Together, and...
by Bob Barr | Feb 15, 2022 | Daily Caller Article |
Daily CallerDuring and after the Watergate scandal that forced Richard Nixon in 1973 to resign from the presidency, there was widespread and bipartisan agreement that no one, not even the President of the United States, should be permitted to use the powers of the federal government to identify and punish individuals who harbored views and supported policies at odds with the administration’s.How times have changed.Half a century later, Democrats in Washington are empowering federal agencies to identify and prosecute individuals and organizations for nothing more than espousing or encouraging political views at odds with the official orthodoxy.This disturbing trend represents not a failure of any one agency or of certain media outlets; nor is it the result of one or a small number of government officials pushing a personal agenda. It represents a cultural shift away from objective accountability, toward an environment in which a significant swath of American society has come to accept, if not condone, the use of government power to push political agendas unhindered by the law or the Constitution.We are witnessing the institutionalization of government skullduggery that 50 years ago forced a president from office.The signs of this seismic shift are everywhere.Last October, the Attorney General Merrick Garland responded to a letter from the association representing school boards across the country that requested that the Department of Justice treat parents protesting school board actions as “a form of domestic terrorism.” In response to that letter, Garland issued a memorandum that, while not directly labeling protesting parents as “terrorists,” directed that Justice Department prosecutors and FBI investigators would target parents who threaten or use violence against...
