You may already be free...

Another reminder that the really odious work of of the Bush administration is most often not apparent in their headline grabbing initiatives. It's in the way they do business that they demonstrate their contempt of transparent government and the ideals of free republic on which this country is founded. John Ashcoft has instructed library depositories to destroy documents that give citizens information on how to retrieve items that may have been confiscated by the government during an investigation.

From a statement by American Library Association President-Elect Michael Gorman:

Last week, the American Library Association learned that the Department of Justice asked the Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents to instruct depository libraries to destroy five publications the Department has deemed not "appropriate for external use." The Department of Justice has called for these five these public documents, two of which are texts of federal statutes, to be removed from depository libraries and destroyed, making their content available only to those with access to a law office or law library.

Though the justification for this action will doubtless be one of national security, this has nothing to do with our saftey. This is about power. Power used in this way will make us weaker and more vulnerable. Without the scrutiny of its citizens a republic rots from the top down. Is there any who doubt that power corrupts? Republicans, Democrats, Americans of all colors and sexual orientation can agree on one thing, I think: It is better to be free. But what do you do if you don't know that you are free?

That's why what Ashcroft is doing is actually scarier than an open assualt on transparent governement. He is not even challenging the right of American citizens to retrieve information from their government. He is simply removing knowledge and evidence of the right from public view. What a citizen doesn't know can't be used against the government, right?

I have lost all hope that these characters can lead us to victory in the war on terror. It's impossible to defend freedom when you don't know what it is.