A call to defend the "Spirit of Resistance"

David Delk, AfD vice Co-chair and Portland AfD Co-chair, writes:

Jules Boykoff, an Alliance for Democracy supporter, recently had an op-ed on Common Dreams on the a bill recently approved by the US House, the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007." Note that all Oregon and Washington Representatives voted Yes on this measure for thought control. More Democrats voted for it than did Republicans. only 3 Democrats and only 3 Republicans voted against it. Dennis Kucinich was one of the three Democrats.

The US Senate has not yet taken the measure up. Please call now and tell them that you want to think for yourself, that this infringes on the rights of Americans to engage in political activity. You can call toll-free at 800-828-0498.

Jules Boykoff is a political science professor at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Or and author of "Beyond Bullets, The suppression of Dissent in the United States."

You can learn more about the bill and who voted for it here. The bill establishes a ten-member commission on prevention of "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism," made up primarily of Congress members, and alows the Department of Homeland Security to create a university center to “study the social, criminal, political, psychological, and economic roots” of U.S.-based radicalization and terrorism.

Boykoff calls the bill "a constitutional challenge waiting to happen."

He writes, "Shortly after the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1787, 'What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?' The Senate, which is currently considering a virtually identical version of the bill, would do well to resurrect 'the spirit of resistance' and finally say no to the Bush administration’s persistent whittling of our civil liberties."