I watched former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge as he espoused the party line as the newly created Director of Homeland Security—he’s lost.

Every time I turn on a news show, Attorney General Ashcroft, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, National Security Advisor, Condeleezza Rice or even the President are saying what America is doing to protect our turf from terrorism. Ridge is an after thought.

I don’t blame the former governor. Often in our past we turned to ill advised or draconian measures when we felt our security was threatened. When John Adams became our second President and faced the two party system for the first time in our history, the critics came knocking. He encouraged Congress to pass the “Alien and Sedition Acts.”

In other words, if you spoke out against his government, you could find yourself in jail. Jefferson and his Republican party skewered the Federalists over this in the 1800 election and won.

The Alien and Sedition Acts had a limited life span, much as Congress is now proposing with the “Anti-Terrorism” Act. Printing anti-government statements were considered an infringement of freedom of the press by the Republicans. A U.S. District Judge ordered the arrest of an editor for “slandering” the President under terms of the act.

In 186l, the military made arrests in Baltimore and then Chief Justice of the United States, Roger Taney, issued a writ of “habeas corpus” (a time-honored rule of English law to bring the accused before the court). Lincoln replied to Justice Taney on July 4, the Commanding General as authorized to arrest and detain without the ordinary processes of law, such individuals as he might deem dangerous to the public safety...” Lincoln justified the exercise of this power because a state of rebellion existed, and said the Constitution was silent as to who had the authority to exercise the power. Never mind the fact that Maryland was still in the Union and not the rebellion.

A group of opposition leaders in Congress, known collectively as “Copperheads,” were adamant in seeking an accommodation with the Confederate States. A former Congressman, Clement Vallandigham, was arrested in his Ohio home and deported to the Confederate lines for speaking out. Many “dissenters” to Lincoln’s policies were locked up in Federal prisons for the duration of the war.

The Democrats were not immune to violating civil rights and the Constitution as President Roosevelt issued an order to incarcerate all Japanese Americans on the west coast and put them into isolated camps. It’s only recently that the government apologized and issued reparations for this act.

The bottom line is, our government is confused by a “cultural” war in which the enemy is hard to find, devalues our values and sows fear in our citizens. In this state of anxiety, let’s not suspend the Constitutional rights of our citizens and remember the advice of Jefferson, “It’s the first act of tyranny.”