A Smidge and a Sprinkle of Jack-Booted Fascism

I used to run an ACLU state affiliate, and we've seen of heapin' help of civil rights violatin' and Constitution guttin' in the last few years- but it's this kind of thing that really scares me:

The American Civil Liberties Union today demanded information from the government about reports that an active military unit has been deployed inside the U.S. to help with "civil unrest" and "crowd control" – matters traditionally handled by civilian authorities. This deployment jeopardizes the longstanding separation between civilian and military government, and the public has a right to know where and why the unit has been deployed, according to an ACLU Freedom of Information request filed today.

"The military's deployment within U.S. borders raises critical questions that must be answered," said Jonathan Hafetz, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "What is the unit's mission? What functions will it perform? And why was it necessary to deploy the unit rather than rely on civilian agencies and personnel and the National Guard? Given the magnitude of the issues at stake, it is imperative that the American people know the truth about this new and unprecedented intrusion of the military in domestic affairs."

According to a report in the Army Times, the Army recently deployed an active military unit inside the United States under Northern Command, which was established in 2002 to assist federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities. This deployment marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command.

Civilian authorities, not the military, have historically controlled and directed the internal affairs of the United States. This rule traces its origins to the nation's founding and has been reaffirmed in landmark statutes including the Posse Comitatus Act, which helps preserve the foundational principles of our Constitution and democracy.

Certainly the ACLU sounds the alarm a lot, but it's worth remembering that it's not an alarmist organization. The attorneys and analysts who work with the organization on the national level are among the best in the nation. Deployment of active military within the U.S. as described above is the deepest affront to the Constitution and to our liberty - not in the "are they reading my email? sense" (yes, by the way) , but in the "I wish someone would send me a nice pie in this tundra detention camp " sense.

The recent fairly brutal treatment of dissenters at the GOP convention in Minneapolis and many other repressive incidents tells me that there are fresh dangers to civilian authority in the United States.

Our salvation will not be legal, it will be political.

If you weren't supporting Obama (who McCain just accused of being an constitutional law academic) before, I would suggest starting immediately.