Chapter 14:
WHAT ARE THE REAL ADVANTAGES WHICH AMERICAN SOCIETY DERIVES FROM A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

BEFORE entering upon the present chapter I must remind the reader of what I have more than once observed in this book. The political Constitution of the United States appears to me to be one of the forms of government that a democracy may adopt; but I do not regard the American Constitution as the best, or as the only one, that a democratic people may establish. In showing the advantages which the Americans derive from the government of democracy, I am therefore very far from affirming, or believing, that similar advantages can be obtained only from the same laws.

GENERAL TENDENCY OF THE LAWS UNDER AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, AND INSTINCTS OF THOSE WHO APPLY THEM. Defects of a democratic government easy to be discovered--Its advantages discerned only by long observation--Democracy in America often inexpert, but the general tendency of the laws is advantageous--In the American democracy public officers have no permanent interests distinct from those of the majority--Results of this state of things.

THE defects and weaknesses of a democratic government may readily be discovered; they can be proved by obvious facts, whereas their healthy influence becomes evident in ways which are not obvious and are, so to speak, hidden. A glance suffices to detect its faults, but its good qualities can be discerned only by long observation. The laws of the American democracy are frequently defective or incomplete; they sometimes attack vested rights, or sanction others which are dangerous to the community; and even if they were good, their frequency would still be a great evil. How comes it, then, that the American republics prosper and continue?

In the consideration of laws a distinction must be carefully observed between the end at which they aim and the means by which they pursue that end; between their absolute and their relative excellence. If it be the intention of the legislator to favor the interests of the minority at the expense of the majority, and if the measures he takes are so combined as to accomplish the object he has in view with the least possible expense of time and exertion, the law may be well drawn up although its purpose is bad; and the more efficacious it is, the more dangerous it will be.

Democratic laws generally tend to promote the welfare of the greatest possible number; for they emanate from the majority of the citizens, who are subject to error, but who cannot have an interest opposed to their own advantage. The laws of an aristocracy tend, on the contrary, to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of the minority; because an aristocracy, by its very nature, constitutes a minority. It may therefore be asserted, as a general proposition, that the purpose of a democracy in its legislation is more useful to humanity than that of an aristocracy. This, however, is the sum total of its advantages.

Aristocracies are infinitely more expert in the science of legislation than democracies ever can be. They are possessed of a selfcontrol that protects them from the errors of temporary excitement; and they form far-reaching designs, which they know how to mature till a favorable opportunity arrives. Aristocratic government proceeds with the dexterity of art; it understands how to make the collective force of all its laws converge at the same time to a given point. Such is not the case with democracies, whose laws are almost always ineffective or inopportune. The means of democracy are therefore more imperfect than those of aristocracy, and the measures that it unwittingly adopts are frequently opposed to its own cause; but the object it has in view is more useful.

Let us now imagine a community so organized by nature or by its constitution that it can support the transitory action of bad laws, and that it can await, without destruction, the general tendency of its legislation: we shall then conceive how a democratic government, notwithstanding its faults, may be best fitted to produce the prosperity of this community. This is precisely what has occurred in the United States; and I repeat, what I have before remarked, that the great advantage of the Americans consists in their being able to commit faults which they may afterwards repair.

An analogous observation may be made respecting public officers. It is easy to perceive that American democracy frequently errs in the choice of the individuals to whom it entrusts the power of the administration; but it is more difficult to say why the state prospers under their rule. In the first place, it is to be remarked that if, in a democratic state, the governors have less honesty and less capacity than elsewhere, the governed are more enlightened and more attentive to their interests. As the people in democracies are more constantly vigilant in their affairs and more jealous of their rights, they prevent their representatives from abandoning that general line of conduct which their own interest prescribes. In the second place, it must be remembered that if the democratic magistrate is more apt to misuse his power, he possesses it for a shorter time. But there is yet another reason which is still more general and conclusive. It is no doubt of importance to the welfare of nations that they should be governed by men of talents and virtue; but it is perhaps still more important for them that the interests of those men should not differ from the interests of the community at large; for if such were the case, their virtues might become almost useless and their talents might be turned to a bad account. I have said that it is important that the interests of the persons in authority should not differ from or oppose the interests of the community at large; but I do not insist upon their having the same interests as the whole population, because I am not aware that such a state of things ever existed in any country.

No political form has hitherto been discovered that is equally favorable to the prosperity and the development of all the classes into which society is divided. These classes continue to form, as it were, so many distinct communities in the same nation; and experience has shown that it is no less dangerous to place the fate of these classes exclusively in the hands of any one of them than it is to make one people the arbiter of the destiny of another. When the rich alone govern, the interest of the poor is always endangered, and when the poor make the laws, that of the rich incurs very serious risks. The advantage of democracy does not consist, therefore, as has sometimes been asserted, in favoring the prosperity of all, but simply in contributing to the well-being of the greatest number. The men who are entrusted with the direction of public affairs in the United States are frequently inferior, in both capacity and morality, to those whom an aristocracy would raise to power. But their interest is identified and mingled with that of the majority of their fellow citizens. They may frequently be faithless and frequently mistaken, but they will never systematically adopt a line of conduct hostile to the majority; and they cannot give a dangerous or exclusive tendency to the government.

The maladministration of a democratic magistrate, moreover, is an isolated fact, which has influence only during the short period for which he is elected. Corruption and incapacity do not act as common interests which may connect men permanently with one another. A corrupt or incapable magistrate will not combine his measures with another magistrate simply because the latter is as corrupt and incapable as himself; and these two men will never unite their endeavors to promote the corruption and inaptitude of their remote posterity. The ambition and the maneuvers of the one will serve, on the contrary, to unmask the other. The vices of a magistrate in democratic states are usually wholly personal.

But under aristocratic governments public men are swayed by the interest of their order, which, if it is sometimes confused with the interests of the majority, is very frequently distinct from them. This interest is the common and lasting bond that unites them; it induces them to coalesce and combine their efforts to attain an end which is not always the happiness of the greatest number; and it serves not only to connect the persons in authority with one another, but to unite them with a considerable portion of the community, since a numerous body of citizens belong to the aristocracy without being invested with official functions. The aristocratic magistrate is therefore constantly supported by a portion of the community as well as by the government of which he is a member.

The common purpose which in aristocracies connects the interest of the magistrates with that of a portion of their contemporaries identifies it also with that of future generations; they labor for the future as well as for the present. The aristocratic magistrate is urged at the same time towards the same point by the passions of the community, by his own, and, I may almost add, by those of his posterity. Is it, then, wonderful that he does not resist such repeated impulses? And, indeed, aristocracies are often carried away by their class spirit without being corrupted by it; and they unconsciously fashion society to their own ends and prepare it for their own descendants.

The English aristocracy is perhaps the most liberal that has ever existed, and no body of men has ever, uninterruptedly, furnished so many honorable and enlightened individuals to the government of a country. It cannot escape observation, however, that in the legislation of England the interests of the poor have often been sacrificed to the advantages of the rich, and the rights of the majority to the privileges of a few. The result is that England at the present day combines the extremes of good and evil fortune in the bosom of her society; and the miseries and privations of her poor almost equal her power and renown.

In the United States, where public officers have no class interests to promote, the general and constant influence of the government is beneficial, although the individuals who conduct it are frequently unskillful and sometimes contemptible. There is, indeed, a secret tendency in democratic institutions that makes the exertions of the citizens subservient to the prosperity of the community in spite of their vices and mistakes; while in aristocratic institutions there is a secret bias which, notwithstanding the talents and virtues of those who conduct the government, leads them to contribute to the evils that oppress their fellow creatures. In aristocratic governments public men may frequently do harm without intending it; and in democratic states they bring about good results of which they have never thought.

PUBLIC SPIRIT IN THE UNITED STATES. Instinctive patriotism--Patriotism of reflection--Their different characteristics--Nations ought to strive to acquire the second when the first has disappeared--Efforts of the Americans to acquire it--Interest of the individual intimately connected with that of the country.

THERE is one sort of patriotic attachment which principally arises from that instinctive, disinterested, and undefinable feeling which connects the affections of man with his birthplace. This natural fondness is united with a taste for ancient customs and a reverence for traditions of the past; those who cherish it love their country as they love the mansion of their fathers. They love the tranquillity that it affords them; they cling to the peaceful habits that they have contracted within its bosom; they are attached to the reminiscences that it awakens; and they are even pleased by living there in a state of obedience. This patriotism is sometimes stimulated by religious enthusiasm, and then it is capable of making prodigious efforts. It is in itself a kind of religion: it does not reason, but it acts from the impulse of faith and sentiment. In some nations the monarch is regarded as a personification of the country; and, the fervor of patriotism being converted into the fervor of loyalty, they take a sympathetic pride in his conquests, and glory in his power. power was a time under the ancient monarchy when the French felt a sort of satisfaction in the sense of their dependence upon the arbitrary will of their king; and they were wont to say with pride: "We live under the most powerful king in the world."

But, like all instinctive passions, this kind of patriotism incites great transient exertions, but no continuity of effort. It may save the state in critical circumstances, but often allows it to decline in times of peace. While the manners of a people are simple and its faith unshaken, while society is steadily based upon traditional institutions whose legitimacy has never been contested, this instinctive patriotism is wont to endure.

But there is another species of attachment to country which is more rational than the one I have been describing. It is perhaps less generous and less ardent, but it is more fruitful and more lasting: it springs from knowledge; it is nurtured by the laws, it grows by the exercise of civil rights; and, in the end, it is confounded with the personal interests of the citizen. A man comprehends the influence which the well-being of his country has upon his own; he is aware that the laws permit him to contribute to that prosperity, and he labors to promote it, first because it benefits him, and secondly because it is in part his own work.

But epochs sometimes occur in the life of a nation when the old customs of a people are changed, public morality is destroyed, religious belief shaken, and the spell of tradition broken, while the diffusion of knowledge is yet imperfect and the civil rights of the community are ill secured or confined within narrow limits. The country then assumes a dim and dubious shape in the eyes of the citizens; they no longer behold it in the soil which they inhabit, for that soil is to them an inanimate clod; nor in the usages of their forefathers, which they have learned to regard as a debasing yoke; nor in religion, for of that they doubt; nor in the laws, which do not originate in their own authority; nor in the legislator, whom they fear and despise. The country is lost to their senses; they can discover it neither under its own nor under borrowed features, and they retire into a narrow and unenlightened selfishness. They are emancipated from prejudice without having acknowledged the empire of reason; they have neither the instinctive patriotism of a monarchy nor the reflecting patriotism of a republic; but they have stopped between the two in the midst of confusion and distress.

In this predicament to retreat is impossible, for a people cannot recover the sentiments of their youth any more than a man can return to the innocent tastes of childhood; such things may be regretted, but they cannot be renewed. They must go forward and accelerate the union of private with public interests, since the period of disinterested patriotism is gone by forever.

I am certainly far from affirming that in order to obtain this result the exercise of political rights should be immediately granted to all men. But I maintain that the most powerful and perhaps the only means that we still possess of interesting men in the welfare of their country is to make them partakers in the government. At the present time civic zeal seems to me to be inseparable from the exercise of political rights; and I think that the number of citizens will be found to augment or decrease in Europe in proportion as those rights are extended.

How does it happen that in the United States, where the inhabitants have only recently immigrated to the land which they now occupy, and brought neither customs nor traditions with them there; where they met one another for the first time with no previous acquaintance; where, in short, the instinctive love of country can scarcely exist; how does it happen that everyone takes as zealous an interest in the affairs of his township, his county, and the whole state as if they were his own? It is because everyone, in his sphere, takes an active part in the government of society.

The lower orders in the United States understand the influence exercised by the general prosperity upon their own welfare; simple as this observation is, it is too rarely made by the people. Besides, they are accustomed to regard this prosperity as the fruit of their own exertions. The citizen looks upon the fortune of the public as his own, and he labors for the good of the state, not merely from a sense of pride or duty, but from what I venture to term cupidity.

It is unnecessary to study the institutions and the history of the Americans in order to know the truth of this remark, for their manners render it sufficiently evident. As the American participates in all that is done in his country, he thinks himself obliged to defend whatever may be censured in it; for it is not only his country that is then attacked, it is himself. The consequence is that his national pride resorts to a thousand artifices and descends to all the petty tricks of personal vanity.

Nothing is more embarrassing in the ordinary intercourse of life than this irritable patriotism of the Americans. A stranger may be well inclined to praise many of the institutions of their country, but he begs permission to blame some things in it, a permission that is inexorably refused. America is therefore a free country in which, lest anybody should be hurt by your remarks, you are not allowed to speak freely of private individuals or of the state, of the citizens or of the authorities, of public or of private undertakings, or, in short, of anything at all except, perhaps, the climate and the soil; and even then Americans will be found ready to defend both as if they had co-operated in producing them.

In our times we must choose between the patriotism of all and the government of a few; for the social force and activity which the first confers are irreconcilable with the pledges of tranquillity which are given by the second.

THE IDEA OF RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES. No great people without an idea of right--How the idea of right can be given to a people--Respect for right in the United States--Whence it arises.

After the general idea of virtue, I know no higher principle than that of right; or rather these two ideas are united in one. The idea of right is simply that of virtue introduced into the political world. It was the idea of right that enabled men to define anarchy and tyranny, and that taught them how to be independent without arrogance and to obey without servility. The man who submits to violence is debased by his compliance; but when he submits to that right of authority which he acknowledges in a fellow creature, he rises in some measure above the person who gives the command. There are no great men without virtue; and there are no great nations--it may almost be added, there would be no society--without respect for right; for what is a union of rational intelligent beings who are held together only by the bond of force?

I am persuaded that the only means which we possess at the present time of inculcating the idea of right and of rendering it, as it were, palpable to the senses is to endow all with the peaceful exercise of certain rights; this is very clearly seen in children, who are men without the strength and the experience of manhood. When a child begins to move in the midst of the objects that surround him, he is instinctively led to appropriate to himself everything that he can lay his hands upon; he has no notion of the property of others, but as he gradually learns the value of things and begins to perceive that he may in his turn be despoiled, he becomes more circumspect, and he ends by respecting those rights in others which he wishes to have respected in himself. The principle which the child derives from the possession of his toys is taught to the man by the objects which he may call his own. In America, the most democratic of nations, those complaints against property in general, which are so frequent in Europe, are never heard, because in America there are no paupers. As everyone has property of his own to defend, everyone recognizes the principle upon which he holds it.

The same thing occurs in the political world. In America, the lowest classes have conceived a very high notion of political rights, because they exercise those rights; and they refrain from attacking the rights of others in order that their own may not be violated. While in Europe the same classes sometimes resist even the supreme power, the American submits without a murmur to the authority of the pettiest magistrate.

This truth appears even in the trivial details of national life. In France few pleasures are exclusively reserved for the higher classes; the poor are generally admitted wherever the rich are received; and they consequently behave with propriety, and respect whatever promotes the enjoyments that they themselves share. In England, where wealth has a monopoly of amusement as well as of power, complaints are made that whenever the poor happen to enter the places reserved for the pleasures of the rich, they do wanton mischief: can this be wondered at, since care has been taken that they should have nothing to lose?

The government of a democracy brings the notion of political rights to the level of the humblest citizens, just as the dissemination of wealth brings the notion of property within the reach of all men; to my mind, this is one of its greatest advantages. I do not say it is easy to teach men how to exercise political rights, but I maintain that, when it is possible, the effects which result from it are highly important; and I add that, if there ever was a time at which such an attempt ought to be made, that time is now. Do you not see that religious belief is shaken and the divine notion of right is declining, that morality is debased and the notion of moral right is therefore fading away? Argument is substituted for faith, and calculation for the impulses of sentiment. If, in the midst of this general disruption, you do not succeed in connecting the notion of right with that of private interest, which is the only immutable point in the human heart, what means will you have of governing the world except by fear? When I am told that the laws are weak and the people are turbulent, that passions are excited and the authority of virtue is paralyzed, and therefore no measures must be taken to increase the rights of the democracy, I reply that for these very reasons some measures of the kind ought to be taken; and I believe that governments are still more interested in taking them than society at large, for governments may perish, but society cannot die.

But I do not wish to exaggerate the example that America furnishes. There the people were invested with political rights at a time when they could not be abused, for the inhabitants were few in number and simple in their manners. As they have increased the Americans have not augmented the power of the democracy they have rather extended its domain.

It cannot be doubted that the moment at which political rights are granted to a people that had before been without them is a very critical one, that the measure, though often necessary, is always dangerous. A child may kill before he is aware of the value of life; and he may deprive another person of his property before he is aware that his own may be taken from him. The lower orders, when they are first invested with political rights, stand in relation to those rights in the same position as the child does to the whole of nature; and the celebrated adage may then be applied to them: Homo puer robustus. This truth may be perceived even in America. The states in which the citizens have enjoyed their tights longest are those in which they make the best use of them.

It cannot be repeated too often that nothing is more fertile in prodigies than the art of being free; but there is nothing more arduous than the apprenticeship of liberty. It is not so with despotism: despotism often promises to make amends for a thousand previous ills; it supports the right, it protects the oppressed, and it maintains public order. The nation is lulled by the temporary prosperity that it produces, until it is roused to a sense of its misery. Liberty, on the contrary, is generally established with difficulty in the midst of storms; it is perfected by civil discord; and its benefits cannot be appreciated until it is already old.

RESPECT FOR LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. Respect of the Americans for law--Parental affection which they entertain for it- Personal interest of everyone to increase the power of law.

IT is not always feasible to consult the whole people, either directly or indirectly, in the formation of law; but it cannot be denied that, when this is possible, the authority of law is much augmented. This popular origin, which impairs the excellence and the wisdom of legislation, contributes much to increase its power. There is an amazing strength in the expression of the will of a whole people; and when it declares itself, even the imagination of those who would wish to contest it is overawed. The truth of this fact is well known by parties, and they consequently strive to make out a majority whenever they can. If they have not the greater number of voters on their side, they assert that the true majority abstained from voting; and if they are foiled even there, they have recourse to those persons who had no right to vote.

In the United States, except slaves, servants, and paupers supported by the townships, there is no class of persons who do not exercise the elective franchise and who do not indirectly contribute to make the laws. Those who wish to attack the laws must consequently either change the opinion of the nation or trample upon its decision.

A second reason, which is still more direct and weighty, may be adduced: in the United States everyone is personally interested in enforcing the obedience of the whole community to the law; for as the minority may shortly rally the majority to its principles, it is interested in professing that respect for the decrees of the legislator which it may soon have occasion to claim for its own. However irksome an enactment may be, the citizen of the United States complies with it, not only because it is the work of the majority, but because it is his own, and he regards it as a contract to which he is himself a party.

In the United States, then, that numerous and turbulent multitude does not exist who, regarding the law as their natural enemy, look upon it with fear and distrust. It is impossible, on the contrary, not to perceive that all classes display the utmost reliance upon the legislation of their country and are attached to it by a kind of parental affection.

I am wrong, however, in saying all classes; for as in America the European scale of authority is inverted, there the wealthy are placed in a position analogous to that of the poor in the Old World, and it is the opulent classes who frequently look upon law with suspicion. I have already observed that the advantage of democracy is not, as has been sometimes asserted, that it protects the interests of all, but simply that it protects those of the majority. In the United States, where the poor rule, the rich have always something to fear from the abuse of their power. This natural anxiety of the rich may produce a secret dissatisfaction, but society is not disturbed by it, for the same reason that withholds the confidence of the rich from the legislative authority makes them obey its mandates: their wealth, which prevents them from making the law, prevents them from withstanding it. Among civilized nations, only those who have nothing to lose ever revolt; and if the laws of a democracy are not always worthy of respect, they are always respected; for those who usually infringe the laws cannot fail to obey those which they have themselves made and by which they are benefited; while the citizens who might be interested in their infraction are induced, by their character and station, to submit to the decisions of the legislature, whatever they may be. Besides, the people in America obey the law, not only because it is their own work, but because it may be changed if it is harmful; a law is observed because, first, it is a self-imposed evil, and, secondly, it is an evil of transient duration.

ACTIVITY THAT PERVADES ALL PARTS OF THE BODY POLITIC IN THE UNITED STATES; INFLUENCE THAT IT EXERCISES UPON SOCIETY. More difficult to conceive the political activity that pervades the United States than the freedom and equality that reign there--The great activity that perpetually agitates the legislative bodies is only an episode, a prolongation of the general activity--Difficult for an American to confine himself to his own business--Political agitation extends to all social intercourse-Commercial activity of the Americans partly attributable to this cause--Indirect advantages which society derives from a democratic government.

ON passing from a free country into one which is not free the traveler is struck by the change; in the former all is bustle and activity; in the latter everything seems calm and motionless. In the one, amelioration and progress are the topics of inquiry; in the other, it seems as if the community wished only to repose in the enjoyment of advantages already acquired. Nevertheless, the country which exerts itself so strenuously to become happy is generally more wealthy and prosperous than that which appears so contented with its lot, and when we compare them, we can scarcely conceive how so many new wants are daily felt in the former, while so few seem to exist in the latter.

If this remark is applicable to those free countries which have preserved monarchical forms and aristocratic institutions, it is still more so to democratic republics. In these states it is not a portion only of the people who endeavor to improve the state of society, but the whole community is engaged in the task; and it is not the exigencies and convenience of a single class for which provision is to be made, but the exigencies and convenience of all classes at once.

It is not impossible to conceive the surprising liberty that the Americans enjoy; some idea may likewise be formed of their extreme equality; but the political activity that pervades the United States must be seen in order to be understood. No sooner do you set foot upon American ground than you are stunned by a kind of tumult; a confused clamor is heard on every side, and a thousand simultaneous voices demand the satisfaction of their social wants. Everything is in motion around you; here the people of one quarter of a town are met to decide upon the building of a church; there the election of a representative is going on; a little farther, the delegates of a district are hastening to the town in order to consult upon some local improvements; in another place, the laborers of a village quit their plows to deliberate upon the project of a road or a public school. Meetings are called for the sole purpose of declaring their disapprobation of the conduct of the government; while in other assemblies citizens salute the authorities of the day as the fathers of their country. Societies are formed which regard drunkenness as the principal cause of the evils of the state, and solemnly bind themselves to give an example of temperance.1

The great political agitation of American legislative bodies which is the only one that attracts the attention of foreigners, is a mere episode, or a sort of continuation, of that universal movement which originates in the lowest classes of the people and extends successively to all the ranks of society. It is impossible to spend more effort in the pursuit of happiness.

It is difficult to say what place is taken up in the life of an inhabitant of the United States by his concern for politics. To take a hand in the regulation of society and to discuss it is his biggest concern and, so to speak, the only pleasure an American knows. This feeling pervades the most trifling habits of life; even the women frequently attend public meetings and listen to political harangues as a recreation from their household labors. Debating clubs are, to a certain extent, a substitute for theatrical entertainments: an American cannot converse, but he can discuss, and his talk falls into a dissertation. He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and if he should chance to become warm in the discussion, he will say "Gentlemen" to the person with whom he is conversing.

In some countries the inhabitants seem unwilling to avail themselves of the political privileges which the law gives them; it would seem that they set too high a value upon their time to spend it on the interests of the community; and they shut themselves up in a narrow selfishness, marked out by four sunk fences and a quickset hedge. But if an American were condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence; he would feel an immense void in the life which he is accustomed to lead, and his wretchedness would be unbearable.2 I am persuaded that if ever a despotism should be established in America, it will be more difficult to overcome the habits that freedom has formed than to conquer the love of freedom itself.

This ceaseless agitation which democratic government has introduced into the political world influences all social intercourse. I am not sure that, on the whole, this is not the greatest advantage of democracy; and I am less inclined to applaud it for what it does than for what it causes to be done.

It is incontestable that the people frequently conduct public business very badly, but it is impossible that the lower orders should take a part in public business without extending the circle of their ideas and quitting the ordinary routine of their thoughts. The humblest individual who co-operates in the government of society acquires a certain degree of self-respect; and as he possesses authority, he can command the services of minds more enlightened than his own. He is canvassed by a multitude of applicants, and in seeking to deceive him in a thousand ways, they really enlighten him. He takes a part in political undertakings which he did not originate, but which give him a taste for undertakings of the kind. New improvements are daily pointed out to him in the common property, and this gives him the desire of improving that property which is his own. He is perhaps neither happier nor better than those who came before him, but he is better informed and more active. I have no doubt that the democratic institutions of the United States, joined to the physical constitution of the country, are the cause (not the direct, as is so often asserted, but the indirect cause) of the prodigious commercial activity of the inhabitants. It is not created by the laws, but the people learn how to promote it by the experience derived from legislation.

When the opponents of democracy assert that a single man performs what he undertakes better than the government of all, it appears to me that they are right. The government of an individual, supposing an equality of knowledge on either side, is more consistent, more persevering, more uniform, and more accurate in details than that of a multitude, and it selects with more discrimination the men whom it employs. If any deny this, they have never seen a democratic government, or have judged upon partial evidence. It is true that, even when local circumstances and the dispositions of the people allow democratic institutions to exist, they do not display a regular and methodical system of government. Democratic liberty is far from accomplishing all its projects with the skill of an adroit despotism. It frequently abandons them before they have borne their fruits, or risks them when the consequences may be dangerous; but in the end it produces more than any absolute government; if it does fewer things well, it does a greater number of things. Under its sway the grandeur is not in what the public administration does, but in what is done without it or outside of it. Democracy does not give the people the most skillful government, but it produces what the ablest governments are frequently unable to create: namely, an all-pervading and restless activity, a superabundant force, and an energy which is inseparable from it and which may, however unfavorable circumstances may be, produce wonders. These are the true advantages of democracy.

In the present age, when the destinies of Christendom seem to be in suspense, some hasten to assail democracy as a hostile power while it is yet growing; and others already adore this new deity which is springing forth from chaos. But both parties are imperfectly acquainted with the object of their hatred or their worship; they strike in the dark and distribute their blows at random.

We must first understand what is wanted of society and its government. Do you wish to give a certain elevation to the human mind and teach it to regard the things of this world with generous feelings, to inspire men with a scorn of mere temporal advantages, to form and nourish strong convictions and keep alive the spirit of honorable devotedness? Is it your object to refine the habits, embellish the manners, and cultivate the arts, to promote the love of poetry, beauty, and glory? Would you constitute a people fitted to act powerfully upon all other nations, and prepared for those high enterprises which, whatever be their results, will leave a name forever famous in history? If you believe such to be the principal object of society, avoid the government of the democracy, for it would not lead you with certainty to the goal.

But if you hold it expedient to divert the moral and intellectual activity of man to the production of comfort and the promotion of general well-being; if a clear understanding be more profitable to man than genius; if your object is not to stimulate the virtues of heroism, but the habits of peace; if you had rather witness vices than crimes, and are content to meet with fewer noble deeds, provided offenses be diminished in the same proportion; if, instead of living in the midst of a brilliant society, you are contented to have prosperity around you; if, in short, you are of the opinion that the principal object of a government is not to confer the greatest possible power and glory upon the body of the nation, but to ensure the greatest enjoyment and to avoid the most misery to each of the individuals who compose it--if such be your desire, then equalize the conditions of men and establish democratic institutions.

But if the time is past at which such a choice was possible, and if some power superior to that of man already hurries us, without consulting our wishes, towards one or the other of these two governments, let us endeavor to make the best of that which is allotted to us and, by finding out both its good and its evil tendencies, he able to foster the former and repress the latter to the utmost.

Footnotes

1 At the time of my stay in the United States the temperance societies already consisted of more than 270,000 members;

and their effect had been to diminish the consumption of strong liquors by 500,000 gallons per annum in Pennsylvania alone.

Temperance societies are organizations the members of which undertake to abstain from strong liquors 2 The same remark was

made at Rome under the first Cësars. Montesquieu somewhere alludes to the excessive despondency of certain Roman citizens

who, after the excitement of political life, were all at once flung back into the stagnation of private life

Secret police

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Secret police (sometimes political police) are a police organization which operates in secrecy for the national purpose of maintaining national security against internal threats to the state. Secret police forces are typically associated with totalitarian regimes, as their activities are not transparent to the public, their primary purpose is to maintain the political power of the state rather than uphold the rule of law, and they have often been used as an instrument of political repression. A state with a significant level of secret police activity is sometimes known as a police state.

Secret police forces may be contrasted with the domestic security agencies found in modern liberal democratic states, which are generally subject to government regulation, reporting requirements and other accountability measures. Nevertheless, such agencies may sometimes be pejoratively described as “secret police”.

Organizations with the role and function of a secret police force have existed throughout history, whether or not they have had policing functions, and whether or not they have been described as "secret".

Methods and history

Secret police forces in dictatorships and totalitarian states usually use violence and acts of terror to suppress political opposition and dissent, and may use death squads to carry out assassinations and "disappearances".

Secret police have been used by many types of government. Their proliferation was most significantly brought about by the puppet regimes that Napoleon installed in northern Italy and in the lands between France and the Rhine. When he was overthrown, so were his puppets, and the reinstated monarchical governments maintained secret police to defend their rule against republicanism. The republics of France have in turn had to defend themselves against Bonapartists as well as monarchists. The dictatorships of Latin America, few of which have ever developed totalitarian pretensions, have used secret police almost as much as true fascists.

They employ internal spies to root out the instigators of protest and revolt, and also employ agents provocateurs to get their opponents to perform a violent criminal act in protest, whereupon they can be captured and tried on grounds that are made public so as to get the general public to side with the regime. Mail is opened, read, and resealed; telephones are tapped; prostitutes, friends, and relatives are tricked, blackmailed, or coerced into telling what they know about suspects. The secret police are renowned to appear at one's house between midnight and dawn, to take people away. These people are not tried openly, they may seem to have disappeared. Many of them are tortured.

The classic example of the political power that a secret police can provide a dictatorship is the destruction of the communist party in Germany by rooting out and imprisoning the "ward leaders". Thus the leaders of the party had no way of mobilizing the party members at the lowest level.

The secret police of East Germany, the Ministry for State Security or Stasi, is considered to be one of the most formidable historical examples.

This may also happen in states which describe themselves as "democratic". There are, of course, different varieties of democracy and, in times of emergency or war, a democracy may lawfully grant its policing and security services additional or sweeping powers which, in hindsight, may smack of "secret police"

In Tito's Yugoslavia, the slang term for a secret policeman was a 'historian'.^{[citation needed]}

Which government agencies may correctly be classed or characterised (in whole or part) as "secret police" is hotly disputed, as it is considered to be a highly pejorative phrase in democratic and even quasi-democratic societies. Some, for instance, would include the CIA and MI6 under the heading of "secret police," while others maintain that organisations engaged in foreign intelligence-gathering and monitoring are not "police" at all.

Another controversy is over whether the FBI and United States Secret Service, for instance, may be correctly referred to as "secret police" because of activities such as wiretaps and what critics characterise as "home invasions" are sanctioned (in addition to the acknowledged Secret-Service practice of seeking psychiatric confinement of those who, while a threat or supposedly a threat to "protectees" are not alleged to be mentally ill), while the other side of the argument argues that such organizations do not engage in the repression, torture, and summary executions characteristic of other "secret police" organizations.

There are some allegations, however, primarily by so-called "fringe" organisations but sometimes by the mainstream as well, that those agencies have engaged in some of those activities, if to a lesser extent than other "secret police" organizations. Recent FBI use of, and attempts to expand the use of, "administrative subpoenas," have also accelerated such criticism by some.

A major issue of the argument is whether the term "secret police" connotes repression or rather the extensive use of low-visibility tactics. The biggest allegations that the FBI constituted a secret police relate to the Vietnam era, when the organization infiltrated and attempted to subvert political organizations deemed dangerous under the directive of the COINTELPRO.

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Officials sued over phone records access 14 Jun 2006 The federal government sued the New Jersey attorney general and other state officials Wednesday to stop them from seeking information about telephone companies' cooperation with the National Security Agency.

*****

Afghan province to provide one-third of world's heroin --Poppy harvest to double in British-patrolled area [Is Bush is pulling a *Ronny Raygun* - funding the Iraq 'insurgency' with profits from the CIA's Afghan drug routes?] 14 Jun 2006 The Afghanistan province being patrolled by British troops will produce at least a third of the world's heroin this year, according to drug experts who are forecasting a record harvest that will be an embarrassment for the western-funded war on narcotics.

US troops to lead major attack on Taliban 14 Jun 2006 An American-led force of 11,000 troops will launch their biggest offensive against Taliban 'insurgents' in Afghanistan since 2001 on Thursday, concentrating their firepower on an area under British control.

30 die in Afghan fighting before offensive 14 Jun 2006 Fierce battles killed at least 30 people across Afghanistan on Wednesday as the U.S.-led occupation readied to launch its largest anti-Taliban offensive since the Islamic government's 2001 ouster.

2 Occupation Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan 14 Jun 2006 Suspected Taliban militants killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two in an attack in southern Afghanistan, 'sparking a occupation retaliation' [Yeah, right!] that left 12 'militants' [civilians?] dead or wounded, officials said Wednesday. Another U.S. soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the military said.

Bush Rejects Calls for Pullout From Iraq 14 Jun 2006 President [sic] Bush, just back from Iraq, dismissed calls for a U.S. withdrawal as election-year politics and refused to give a timetable or benchmark for success that would allow troops to come home.

Crackdown on Baghdad begins 14 Jun 2006 Iraq's prime minister set in motion the biggest security [sic] crackdown in Baghdad since the U.S.-led invasion, with 75,000 Iraqi and U.S. troops to deploy across the strife-prone capital starting today. Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr planned a demonstration today in Baghdad to protest Dictator Bush's surprise visit to the capital.

Car bomb kills 4 despite major security crackdown in Baghdad 14 Jun 2006 A car bomb killed four people and clashes broke out in two Sunni Arab strongholds Wednesday after tens of thousands of Iraqi troops fanned out across Baghdad in a major security [sic] crackdown aimed at ending the violence that has devastated the capital. Barely more than six hours after visiting Baghdad, Dictator Bush said violence in Iraq will never be eliminated but that the crackdown and new intelligence on terrorism are contributing to "steady progress." [Yes, it's been a "steady progressION" of assassinations, terrorism and sectarian violence since Dictator Bush invaded Iraq. --LRP]

Bush in Baghdad By Patrick Martin 14 Jun 2006 "The most remarkable fact of the visit was that the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, was informed of Bush’s presence in his country only five minutes before he was ushered in to meet the US president... Maliki's ignorance of Bush's arrival demonstrates that the government installed in Baghdad by the American invaders lacks one of the most essential attributes of sovereignty: it has no control over who comes into the country. If Bush had swooped down on any other capital city in that fashion—with the possible exception of Kabul, headquarters of another US stooge regime—his plane or helicopter would have been intercepted or even shot down. But Iraq is not an independent country. It is a conquered province of the US empire."

Unanswered questions in the killing of Zarqawi By Kate Randall 14 Jun 2006 "In the days since the killing of Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the official US account of the incident has repeatedly shifted... How and when did Zarqawi die? What were the number and identities of the other casualties? Who was first on the scene after the attack? Were US forces in the vicinity before the bombings took place? The answers—or evasions—provided by US authorities on these and other issues render the credibility of their version of the events of June 7 increasingly dubious."

Desperate Bush administration ends already blown Zarqawi deception By Larry Chin 12 Jun 2006 "The purported execution of 'Al-Qaeda mystery man' Musab al-Zarqawi ends what was exposed two months ago as a Pentagon psychological operation in leaked military documents. The pursuit of Zarqawi is being sold as the 'turning point' of the Iraq war. It is nothing of the sort. This is another lie, heaped upon the multitude of lies that comprise the 'war on terrorism' itself. What is a well-established (and deliberately unaddressed) fact is that the United States government and US-connected intelligence agencies created Islamic 'terrorism.'"

Journalists ordered out of Guantánamo 14 Jun 2006 Journalists have been ordered to leave Guantánamo Bay and local military authorities have had their permission to invite reporters to the base overruled following last week's 'suicides' at the US detention camp.

Bush: Men held in Guantánamo are 'darn dangerous' --Says Military Courts Best Place to Deal With Guantánamo Detainees 14 Jun 2006 Detainees being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are dangerous men, and the best place to deal with them is in military courts, President [sic] Bush said at the White House today. "I'd like to close Guantánamo," he said. "But I also recognize that ... we're holding some people that are darn dangerous and that we better have a plan to deal with them in our courts."

UK minister calls Guantanamo a 'recruiting agent' for terrorism 15 Jun 2006 Lord Charles Falconer, Britain's Lord Chancellor and close ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair, has denounced the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay as a "recruiting agent" for terrorism.

Father queries Guantanamo suicide 14 Jun 2006 The father of one of three inmates said to have committed suicide at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay has said he believes his son was murdered.

A tunnel without end --The US version of the Guantánamo suicides is disgraceful. The cause of death was gross injustice. By Zachary Katznelson 12 Jun 2006 "On Friday night, three prisoners in Guantánamo Bay committed suicide... Islam says it goes against God to kill yourself. So what would drive a man to take his own life, despite his religious beliefs? ...The 460-plus men in Guantánamo Bay have been held for longer than four years. Only 10 have been charged with a crime. Not one has had a trial... Most are held on the basis of triple and quadruple hearsay, evidence so unreliable that a criminal court would throw it out. Yet the US says it can imprison the men for the rest of their lives."

Pentagon Scraps Plans to Keep Interrogation Techniques Secret 14 Jun 2006 The Pentagon scraps plans to hide interrogation techniques by placing them in a classified section of a military manual. Two senior officials tell The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity there will no longer be a classified section in the Army Field Manual.

US prisoner flight angers Ireland 13 Jun 2006 Ireland has demanded a full explanation from Washington after a US marine was found handcuffed on board a plane at Shannon airport in the west of Ireland. The Irish government says it should have been asked for formal permission for any transfer of prisoners.

Mohammed Abdulkahar tells the story of terror raid that backfired --'I just thought: one by one they're going to kill us' 14 Jun 2006 "I saw the shotgun in my chest and I was begging 'Please, please I cannot breathe'. He [the police officer] just kicked me in my face and kept on saying 'Shut the fuck up'. I said 'Please, I cannot breathe'. One of the officers slapped me over the face. He was saying 'Just shut the fuck up, stay there, stay there'... At that point, I knew it was the police because I saw police vans parked outside. Until that moment, I still did not know they were the police. They never said a word about police."

'Torture' Britons lose bid to sue Saudis 14 Jun 2006 A court ruling which gave four men the right to sue foreign officials who allegedly tortured them while they were held in Saudi Arabian jails was overturned by the Law Lords today.

Vendors sync up IP wiretapping tools 12 Jun 2006 Two software vendors have made their IP wiretapping tools for carriers and law-enforcement agencies work together. Related links Narus' NarusInsight Intercept Suite for carriers has been fully tested for interoperability with Pen-Link's Lincoln 2 data collection and reporting software for law enforcement, the companies will announce Tuesday.

Lawsuit: CIA defines who's a news outlet 14 Jun 2006 The CIA has adopted internal rules allowing it to define what constitutes a news organization and what doesn't, a Washington-based research group contended in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday. The lawsuit by the National Security Archive, which operates the largest non-governmental library of declassified documents, says the spy agency has begun charging illegal search and duplication fees under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

NSA Monitoring Won't Stop Terror: Claim 14 Jun 2006 The NSA's "wide net" electronic surveillance is almost no use in catching terrorists, an expert claims. The current debate over the legality and ethics on the National Security Agency's terrorist surveillance methods might be rendered moot by the ineffectiveness of the intelligence gathering techniques, James Bamford, an expert on the NSA and author of several books about the agency, told UPI.

House, Senate members disclose finances 14 Jun 2006 House and Senate members detailed their finances Wednesday in the midst of public and government scrutiny of certain dealings that have caused Congress' popularity to drop. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-'Cat Torturer'-Tenn., holds blind trusts worth $7.5 million to $36 million. He reported making $5 million last year from the largest, worth between $5 million to $25 million. Frist faces a Securities and Exchange Commission insider trading investigation over selling stock in a hospital company his family founded.

"As always, thanks for all you do." EPA Rule Loosened After Oil Chief's Letter to Rove 13 Jun 2006 A rule designed by the Environmental Protection Agency to keep groundwater clean near oil drilling sites and other construction zones was loosened after White House officials rejected it amid complaints by energy companies that it was too restrictive and after a well-connected Texas oil executive appealed to White House senior advisor Karl Rove. [See: 2002 letter from Texas oilman and longtime Republican activist, Ernest Angelo, to Karl Rove.]

R.J. Reynolds behind push to water down Arizona smoking ban 12 Jun 2006 A rollback initiative funded by a North Carolina cigarette maker and Arizona business owners would allow smoking in all bars and some restaurants statewide, overturning smoking bans in cities including Tempe and Prescott.

Pipe ruptures at nuclear reactor 14 Jun 2006 (AU) A pipe inside a radioactive hot cell at Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor has ruptured, halting the production of an isotope used in medical procedures.

Heat on PM over nuclear gas leak 15 Jun 2006 Radioactive gas escaped after an accident at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, days after the Prime Minister, John Howard, announced a feasibility study into nuclear power.

*****

US opens new war front in North Africa 14 Jun 2006 Despite a setback in Somalia, the United States is plunging into a far vaster set of commitments, stretching across the "Wild West" of Saharan Africa. Over the next five years, Washington is expected to spend US$500 million on an overt counter-terror program to secure what it has dubbed the latest front in its "global war on [of] terror".

US 'biggest global peace threat' 14 Jun 2006 People in European and Muslim countries see US policy in Iraq as a bigger threat to world peace than Iran's nuclear programme, a survey has shown. The survey by the Pew Research Group also found support for US Dictator George W Bush and his "war on [of] terror" had dropped dramatically worldwide.

Poll: U.S. in Iraq Clouds Mideast Stability 13 Jun 2006 The presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is a greater threat to Mideast stability than the government in Iran, according to a poll of European and Muslim countries.

Labs Compete to Make New Nuclear Bomb 13 Jun 2006 The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the San Francisco Bay area and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are competing to design the nation's first new nuclear bomb in two decades.

EU-U.S. "partners in crime" on CIA flights 14 Jun 2006 Amnesty International urged European states on Wednesday to stop being "partners in crime" with the United States over the alleged kidnapping of terrorism suspects and their transfer to countries that use torture.

Spain Probes Alleged CIA Use of Airport 12 Jun 2006 Spain's National Court will investigate allegations that the CIA used an airport on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca for its program of covert transfers of terror suspects, court officials said Monday.

Pentagon won't hide interrogation tactics 13 Jun 2006 Under pressure from Congress, the Pentagon has dropped plans to keep some interrogation techniques secret by putting them in a classified section of a military manual, defense officials said Tuesday.

Doctors forbid roles in harsh interrogations 13 Jun 2006 The American Medical Association on Monday voted to refine its ethical guidelines that forbid doctors from participating in torture or "coercive" interrogations of prisoners. The action was prompted by unconfirmed allegations that physicians or psychiatrists played roles in harsh interrogations conducted at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Kucinich reveals Iran-Contra colonel linked to death squads in Iraq 06 Jun 2006 (ACN) US Army Colonel James Steele, who was involved in the Iran-Contras scandal along with international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles at his command, is now an advisor to death squads in Iraq. The presence of the US army officer in Iraq has just been revealed by US Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), Granma daily reports.

Another US Cover-Up Surfaces in Iraq By Dahr Jamail with Arkan Hamed 13 Jun 2006 "In the wake of the Haditha massacre, reports of another atrocity have surfaced in which U.S. troops killed two women in Samarra, and then attempted to hide evidence of their responsibility... What was not reported, according to an Iraqi human rights investigator who spoke with IPS on condition of anonymity, was that both women were shot in the back of the head by U.S. snipers."

Five car bombs explode in Kirkuk --Kirkuk police hit in bomb blasts 13 Jun 2006 A series of bombs have gone off in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing at least 14 and injuring dozens. The violence comes as authorities in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, imposed a strict curfew on the city.

US test fire kills three Iraqis 05 Jun 2006 The US military has admitted that three Iraqi civilians killed in an explosion on Friday died because of an artillery "training exercise" [using Iraqis' homes for target-practice] that went wrong.

Iraq in Civil War for 82% of Americans 14 Jun 2006 Many adults in the United States believe Iraq is still going through a period of enormous instability, according to a poll by CBS News. 82 per cent of respondents believe there is a civil war going on in the country among different groups.

75,000 Forces to Be Deployed in Baghdad 13 Jun 2006 Under an ambitious plan to bolster security in Baghdad, some 75,000 Iraqi and 'multinational' forces will be deployed in the capital beginning Wednesday, a top Iraqi police official said. Prime Minister [US-installed dictator] Nouri al-Maliki promised to show "no mercy" to 'terrorists' and said the security plan would include a curfew and ban on weapons.

Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq [Puke] 13 Jun 2006 Dictator Bush arrived in Baghdad today for a face-to-face meeting with new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki -- an effort, the White House said, to get a clear sense of the premier's priorities [Halliburton, Bechtel, and Blackwater USA] and how the U.S. government could help his [illegitimate] government succeed.

Bush tells Iraq leader U.S. will back him 13 Jun 2006 ...In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld gave a classified briefing on Bush's trip to Iraq to selected senators. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters afterward that Bush's trip "is likely to lead to phased redeployments this year and continuing in the next year."

Levin: Finish Iraq pullout before 2008 13 Jun 2006 The senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday he favors a phased redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq beginning by the end of 2006 and finishing by the end of 2007.

Statement of Christopher Wolf, Proskauer Rose LLP --Counsel for Ambassador Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson (CLG) 13 Jun 2006 "We have become aware of the communication between Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Luskin concerning Karl Rove's status in the criminal investigation. We have no first-hand knowledge of the reason for the communication or what further developments in the criminal investigation it may signal. While it appears that Mr. Rove will not be called to answer in criminal court for his participation in the wrongful disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified employment status at the CIA in retaliation against Joe Wilson for questioning the rationale for war in Iraq, that obviously does not end the matter. The day still may come when Mr. Rove and others are called to account in a court of law for their attacks on the Wilsons."

Karl Rove Won't Be Charged in CIA Leak Case 13 Jun 2006 Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has told White House aide Karl Rove that he does not expect to seek charges against him in connection with the CIA leak case, Rove's lawyer said today. In a statement this morning, Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, said that Fitzgerald "has formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges" against Rove. [This story surely vindicates Truthout.org; its executive editor, Marc Ash; its reporter, Jason Leopold; and its main publicist, William Pitt. The story reported by Truthout on 12 May (and re-reported on 12 June) was surely right in the main. They were 99.99% right. They simply missed the word "not" before the word "indicted." --MDR]

Bush aide escapes charges over CIA agent's leaked identity 14 Jun 2006 The White House was spared a criminal prosecution against its master strategist yesterday after Karl Rove was advised he would not face charges in the CIA leak affair.

Truthout runs out of truth (Capitol Hill Blue) 14 Jun 2006 "Truthout executive director called the site's story on a so-called indictment of Bush guru Karl Rove 'the biggest story we have ever covered.' William Rivers Pitt called those who questioned the report 'cretins' and publicly scolded the founder of Democratic Underground [puke], saying: 'When this story pans out, and all the little fish try to swim home, I am going to say, 'Sorry, you had the chance to stand with an ally, and instead, decided to say 'I find it very hard not to be skeptical.' Well the story didn't pan out and the little fish at Truthout are drowning in their own arrogance... Truthout needs to step down off its arrogant pedestal, admit it got it wrong, and move on. Until it does, the road back to credibility will only get longer and more difficult."

Apologise or we'll cut your funding, US envoy tells UN 09 Jun 2006 America's bitter dispute with the United Nations escalated last night when John Bolton, the US envoy to the UN, threatened to withhold funding to the organisation unless it apologised for the remarks of a senior British official.

Yard told MI5 of terror tip doubt --Police were ordered to make Forest Gate raid --Official Menezes report 'piles pressure on Met chief' 11 Jun 2006 Scotland Yard warned MI5 it had serious reservations about the credibility of the source whose information triggered the Forest Gate anti-terrorism raid only hours before police stormed the suspects' house in east London.

London anti-terrorism raid: Victim says police 'shot without warning' --Brothers demand apology from police 14 Jun 2006 A British man shot by anti-terrorist police during a pre-dawn raid on an east London house said on Tuesday the officer gave him no warning before pulling the trigger.

BYU professor let go for questioning LDS stand on gay marriage 13 Jun 2006 A Brigham Young University part-time professor who recently called into question the LDS Church's opposition to gay marriage will not be rehired after spring term. The decision to let Jeffrey Nielsen go was based on an op-ed piece he wrote for the June 4 edition of The Salt Lake Tribune.

FEMA funds spent on divorce, sex change 14 Jun 2006 The government doled out as much as $1.4 billion in bogus assistance to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, getting hoodwinked to pay for season football tickets, a tropical vacation and even a divorce lawyer, congressional investigators have found. [Too bad Bush has invoked a signing statement that prevents any investigation of misspent billion$ in Iraq by the terrorists at Halliburton and Blackwater USA.]

Ordinance creates separate shelter for sex offenders 13 Jun 2006 As Southwest Florida continues to feel effects from Tropical Storm Alberto, Lee County Commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance that creates separate storm shelters for sex offenders and predators.

House lawmakers accept $3,300 pay hike 13 Jun 2006 Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday embraced a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500.

Liberal Activists Boo Clinton --Rejection of Iraq Timetable Gets Cool Reception at Conference 14 Jun 2006 Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) drew boos and hisses from an audience of liberal activists yesterday as she defended her opposition to a timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq, and later she received an implicit rebuke from Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) for failing to acknowledge that her support for the war was a mistake.

Lieberman Ally Advises: Run As An Independent 13 Jun 2006 A prominent ally of U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman urged Monday that LieberBush run for re-election as an independent and not trust his career to left-leaning Democratic primary voters in August.

Gore to train 1,000 to spread word about climate 12 Jun 2006 Al Gore hopes to train 1,000 messengers he hopes will spread out across the country and present a slide show about global warming that captures the essence of his Hollywood documentary and book.

*****

Court Urged to Protect CIA Detention Info 12 Jun 2006 Citing national security, a government lawyer told a federal appeals court Monday that the CIA should not be forced to reveal whether it has been given authority to detain and interrogate suspected terrorists in overseas jails. The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the spy agency to turn over any documents related to secret foreign prisons. Though such prisons have been detailed in news reports, U.S. officials have never said that they exist.

Judges Press C.I.A. Lawyer Over Withheld Documents 13 Jun 2006 A federal appeals court panel in Manhattan questioned a lawyer for the federal government yesterday as to whether the Central Intelligence Agency had a legitimate national security interest in refusing to confirm or deny the existence of documents authorizing it to detain and interrogate terrorism suspects overseas.

Spain's National Court to investigate CIA use of Mallorca airport 12 Jun 2006 Spain's National Court will investigate allegations that the CIA used an airport on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca for its program of covert transfers of terror suspects, court officials said Monday.

Romanian Politicians "Aware of CIA Secret Flights" 12 Jun 2006 Several Romanian politicians are aware of the secret CIA flights, according to Graham Watson, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament.

"The Bush administration has acknowledged that it has not complied with the law but has said that a Congressional authorization in 2001 to use military force against Al Qaeda and the president's inherent constitutional powers allowed him to violate it." U.S. Asks Judge to Drop Suit on N.S.A. Spying 12 Jun 2006 (Detroit) Addressing a judge in Federal District Court on a National Security Agency program that listens in on international communications involving people in the United States, a government lawyer said, "the evidence we need to demonstrate to you that it lawful cannot be disclosed without that process itself causing grave harm to United States national security." The only solution to this impasse, lawyer Anthony J. Coppolino said, was for Judge Anna Diggs Taylor to dismiss the lawsuit before her, an American Civil Liberties Union challenge to the eavesdropping program, under the state secrets privilege.

Terror suspects 'tortured,' lawyers say 12 Jun 2006 Tiny solitary cells under constant illumination, a mere 20 minutes of fresh air daily, and beatings at the hands of guards are indicative of the "torture" endured by some of the 17 people accused of plotting terrorist attacks in Canada, lawyers for the group said Monday. The allegations of "cruel and unusual punishment" came as the court imposed a blanket publication ban on the legal proceedings, preventing the public from learning of any further evidence in a case of stunning allegations that has captured headlines around the world. [That's because, there *is* no evidence.]

Lawyers blast media ban in Canada terrorism case 12 Jun 2006 A publication ban on the court hearings of 17 men accused of planning 'al Qaeda'-inspired attacks in Ontario is just another example that the men stand no chance of a fair trial, some defense lawyers said on Monday. Lawyers said prosecutors asked for the ban only after the government had more than a week to publicly portray the Muslim men as terrorists who plotted to detonate massive bombs in Ottawa and Toronto and -- according to the defense -- behead the prime minister.

Canada suspects have no chance of fair trial: lawyer 12 Jun 2006 Seventeen men accused of planning al CIAduh-inspired attacks in densely populated southern Ontario stand no chance of a fair trial after prejudicial comments from police and the intelligence community, one of their lawyers said on Monday.

Guantánamo suicide prisoner 'not told release was due' 12 Jun 2006 One of the three detainees who committed suicide at Guantánamo Bay was due to be released but had not been told, the man's lawyer said today.

Pressure mounts to close Guantanamo after suicides 12 Jun 2006 Pressure mounted within the United States and from abroad to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp following the 'suicides' [murders] of three "enemy combatant" detainees over the weekend.

Al-Zarqawi Lived for 52 Mins. After Strike 12 Jun 2006 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi lived for 52 minutes after a U.S. warplane bombed his hideout northeast of Baghdad, and he died of extensive internal injuries consistent with those caused by a bomb blast [?!?], the U.S. military said Monday.

Al-Zarqawi's Successor Chosen [by Bush] 12 Jun 2006 Al-CIAduh in Iraq said in a Web statement posted Monday that a militant named Abu Hamza al-Muhajer was the group's new leader.

US air strike kills nine in Iraq 12 Jun 2006 The US military in Iraq says its aircraft killed nine people in an attack on a "terrorist cell", but witnesses say the dead are civilians. Occupation troops later found the bodies of seven adults, described as "terrorists", and two children.

Car bombs kill at least 15 in Kirkuk --Raid by U.S. forces kills 9, including 2 children 13 Jun 2006 Two car bombs targeting police exploded within a span of 30 minutes in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding 15, police said.

Afghanistan considers rearming warlords 12 Jun 2006 The Afghan government is considering arming tribal groups across southern Afghanistan, in a move diplomats say would destabilise the country.

Global military spend hits $1.12 trillion: report 12 Jun 2006 U.S. spending in Iraq and Afghanistan helped push up global 2005 military expenditure by 3.5 percent to $1.12 trillion, a research body [the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)] said on Monday.

War Criminal Nation - You'd Better Shut-Up By Paul Craig Roberts 11 Jun 2006 "The only reason Americans can look themselves in the mirror is that they are clueless and have little idea of what is being done in their name... Bush supporters dismiss anyone who tells them the truth as a traitor. Bush supporters are as dependent on propaganda as substance abusers are on drugs and alcohol. Try weaning Bush supporters from the obvious lies that are the basis of this administration, and they will call you every name in the book. They are proud to be Americans. Lies and war crimes are an American right. And you had better shut up or those Haliburton-built concentration camps will be your new home."

The Bolton legacy: "unchecked U.N.-bashing and stereotyping" At the U.N., Bluster Backfires By Sebastian Mallaby 12 Jun 2006 "Perhaps not surprisingly, the Senate refused to confirm [John R.] Bolton as U.N. ambassador. 'Arrogant,' 'bullying,' and 'the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be,' Sen. George Voinovich called him. Bush sent Bolton anyway, bypassing the Senate by appointing him during a congressional recess... The United States needs an ambassador who can work with the United Nations. Right now, it doesn't have one."

Arab Firm Running Key Ports 12 Jun 2006 In January, Emirates-based Istithmar purchased U.K.-based Inchcape Shipping Services, or ISS, a company that specializes in "ship husbanding" in more than 200 ports worldwide. Ship husbanding includes providing supplies, crew transportation and some security to vessels making port calls. In light of U.S. naval vessels' vulnerability while in port, one experienced ship agent employed by a U.S. firm says he is surprised that the Inchcape sale went virtually unnoticed by Congress and the press.

Halliburton protester acquitted 09 Jun 2006 A Tulsa woman who protested outside Halliburton's shareholders meeting last month was acquitted Thursday of violating a city protest permit.

Pentagon Watchdog Owns Cabin With Rumsfeld Pal By Justin Rood 12 Jun 2006 "According to POGO, [Armed Services Committee chair Duncan Hunter (R-CA)] -- who's never been a particularly toothy watchdog of Pentagon activities -- has for several years co-owned a cabin in rural Virginia with a Rumsfeld confidante and senior Pentagon official. For the past five years, Preston M. 'Pete' Geren III has been kind of a top-shelf fix-it guy for Rumsfeld, POGO's Jason Vest reports."

Rove headlining GOP fund-raiser 12 Jun 2006 Presidential adviser Karl Rove is the keynote speaker Monday night at the state Republican Party's annual dinner -- which Democrats say is to raise money to help the party pay legal fees in a phone jamming case. Democrats are suing Republicans to find out who knew about the phone jamming done Election Day 2002 that tied up a Democratic and nonpartisan effort to get out the vote and provide rides to the polls. Three Republican operatives have been convicted in the plot.

Judge tosses lawsuit over Pa. lawmaker pay 12 Jun 2006 A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Thursday that sought to ban the tactics the Legislature used to give itself a pay raise in the middle of the night last summer.

Judge overturns San Francisco weapons ban 12 Jun 2006 A state trial judge on Monday overturned a voter-approved city ordinance that banned handgun possession and firearm sales in San Francisco, siding with gun owners who said the city did not have the authority to prohibit the weapons.

Bill would outlaw abortion --Ohio legislation would make no exception for rape, incest or to save woman's life. 10 Jun 2006 House Bill 228, as proposed by State Rep. Tom Brinkman, R-Cincinnati, would criminalize all abortion -- whether to save the life of the woman or to end pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. Furthermore, it would make it a felony for anyone to take a woman across the state line to obtain an abortion elsewhere.

Supreme Court allows lethal injection challenge 12 Jun 2006 The U.S. Supreme Court paved the way Monday for death row inmates nationwide to make last-minute challenges to lethal injection, ruling in favor of a Florida inmate who had been strapped to a gurney awaiting execution when the court took up his case.

Storm Nears Hurricane Strength and the Gulf Coast of Florida 13 Jun 2006 A hurricane warning was issued on Monday and evacuations were ordered for parts of the Florida Gulf Coast as the season's first tropical storm intensified on a path that could bring it ashore as a hurricane.

Steelers' Roethlisberger Hurt in Motorcycle Accident 12 Jun 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is listed in serious but stable condition in a Pittsburgh hospital following a motorcycle accident this morning, his doctor said.

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US 'planning to keep 50,000 troops in Iraq for many years' 12 Jun 2006 America plans to retain a garrison of 50,000 troops, one tenth of its entire army, in Iraq for years to come, according to US media reports. The revelation came as George W Bush summoned his top political, military and intelligence aides to a summit on Iraq's future today at the presidential retreat at Camp David.

US base commander: Guantanamo Bay suicides 'an act of war' 12 Jun 2006 Three Guantanamo Bay detainees hanged themselves using nooses made of bedsheets and clothes, the commander of the facility confirmed yesterday, describing the suicides as "an act of asymmetric warfare" against the United States.

Washington condemns first suicides by Guantanamo inmates as 'a PR exercise' 12 June 2006 Three prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba - two Saudis and a Yemeni - killed themselves over the weekend - the first successful suicides at the US prison camp since it opened in 2002 and the latest incident to highlight the fierce controversy over its continued existence. Lawyers for other prisoners said there had been clear signs of the increasing desperation felt by many detainees held without charge for more than four years... "These people are despairing because they are being held lawlessly. There's no end in sight," Ken Roth, the head of Human Rights Watch, told the BBC. "They're not being brought before any independent judges. They're not being charged and convicted for any crime."

Saudis doubt nationals were suicides at Guantánamo --Some doubt U.S. claim, say torture may have driven men to kill themselves 11 Jun 2006 The reported suicides of two Saudi prisoners at Guantánamo Bay intensified Saudi anger at the camp, drawing questions Sunday about whether the men really killed themselves or were driven to it by torture.

Dozens have attempted suicide at Guantanamo 10 Jun 2006 The three prisoners found dead at the Guantanamo prison camp on Saturday were the first to succeed in committing suicide, but nearly two dozen others have tried to kill themselves behind the razor-wire fences at the remote U.S. naval base in southeast Cuba.

New calls to close Guantanamo 12 Jun 2006 The suicides of three Arab prisoners at Guantanamo have ignited new calls for the US to shut down the detention camp and find a better way to deal with captured terrorist suspects

Congress can look into Blackwater USA's hiring of Pinoy mercenaries for Iraq: Palace 12 Jun 2006 (Philippines) Malacañang on Sunday said Congress can go ahead if it wants to investigate the alleged recruitment of "mercenaries" to Iraq by security firm Blackwater USA.

Zarqawi autopsy over, results withheld 12 Jun 2006 A US military autopsy was finished on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Sunday, but the findings were not immediately released by American officials. U.S. commanders initially said al-Zarqawi died in the airstrike but later said he survived and died soon after.

Castro: Al-Zarqawi Killing a 'Barbarity' 11 Jun 2006 President Fidel Castro called the U.S. airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi a "barbarity,'' saying he should have been put on trial. The United States acted as "judge and jury'' against the leader of the 'al-Qaida' in Iraq, Castro said late Friday. "They bragged, they were practically drunk with happiness. The accused cannot just be eliminated,'' he told a literacy conference. "This barbarity cannot be done.'' [Castro attends literacy conferences - something Bush could never do.]

No poll bounce for Bush after re-killing of al-Zarqawi 11 Jun 2006 Forty-one percent (41%) of Americans approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as pResident. Fifty-eight percent (58%) disapprove. Telephone interviews for this update were conducted following the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. This suggests that there is no immediate "bounce" for Bush from the news.

Unreported: The Zarqawi Invitation By Greg Palast 09 Jun 2006 "Saddam’s generals, mostly Sunnis, who had, we learned, secretly collaborated with the US invasion and now expected their reward found themselves hunted and arrested. Falah Aljibury, an Iraqi-born US resident who helped with the pre-invasion brokering, told me, 'U.S. forces imprisoned all those we named as political leaders,' who stopped Iraq’s army from firing on U.S. troops."

Bon Appétit, America --Satiating a Gnawing Hunger for Vengeance By Jason Miller 09 Jun 2006 "Throughout Bush’s tenure in the White House, our Commander in Chef and his staff of gourmets have prepared a veritable smorgasbord of propagandistic delights for the psyches of those who still cling to the myth of America’s innate superiority... Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death is the latest Haute cuisine to emerge from the perverse kitchen of America’s ruling elite."

'Al Qaeda' in Iraq threatens large scale attacks 11 Jun 2006 Al CIAduh in Iraq vowed on Sunday to carry out large-scale attacks that would "shake the enemy" after the killing of its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but did not name a successor. [Right, that's because Bush/Blackwater USA hasn't gotten one yet.]

British Troops, Insurgents Battle in Iraq 11 Jun 2006 "Insurgents" set a fire in a vegetable market to lure British soldiers into a gunbattle Sunday that left five civilians dead and more than a dozen hurt by the crossfire, Iraqi police said.

Two Soldiers Killed, One Wounded 11 Jun 2006 An occupation soldier died today during offensive operations against Taliban extremists in Afghanistan and another was killed in Iraq while on patrol June 9, U.S. military officials reported.

Stupid is as stupid does: Afghanistan to Arm Tribesmen Against Taliban 11 Jun 2006 Afghanistan Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday his government will give weapons to local tribesmen so they can help fight the biggest surge in Taliban violence in years. [And, the US taxpayers will be footing the bill, of course.]

British soldier killed in Afghan ambush 12 Jun 2006 A British soldier was killed in Afghanistan yesterday - the first to die since 3,300 British troops began arriving in the lawless Helmand province two months ago.

Fort Sam lacks cash to pay the light bill 09 Jun 2006 It's stranger than fiction, a tale bizarre beyond belief: The Army that helped conquer Iraq in three weeks doesn't have enough cash to keep the lights on at Fort Sam Houston. The post is in crisis mode, not dark but deep in the red. [Oh, but - alas alak: Halliburton sees earnings doubling in coming years 08 Jun 2006]

Stolen VA data may have been erased 09 Jun 2006 Stolen personal data for 26.5 million veterans and military personnel may have been erased by teenagers who sold the computer equipment, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Thursday.

Terror raid pair may sue police 11 Jun 2006 Two men released without charge after an anti[pro]-terror raid in east London are to take legal action, it is reported.

After 9/11, Arab-Americans Fear Police Acts, Study Finds 12 Jun 2006 In the aftermath of Sept. 11, Arab-Americans have a greater fear of racial profiling and immigration enforcement than of falling victim to hate crimes, according to a national study financed by the Justice Department.

Judge may decide if eavesdropping is legal 11 Jun 2006 The National Security Agency's domestic spying program faces its first legal challenge in a case that could decide if the White House is allowed to order eavesdropping without a court order.

Specter Ready for Fight Over Spy Program 11 Jun 2006 The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman (Arlen Specter, R-Pa.) says he's prepared to force telephone company executives to testify about the White House's eavesdropping program if the Bush administration doesn't fully cooperate in drafting new rules on what's allowable.

Bills would ban tracking devices in driver's licenses, IDs 12 Jun 2006 Sen. Joe Simitian is trying a new tactic in his year-and-a-half-long campaign to control the use of tracking devices in government-issued identification cards. Bills by the Palo Alto Democrat that would bar the use of radio-frequency identification devices in driver's licenses and school identification cards are up Tuesday in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Interview with Aaron Russo regarding "America: Freedom 2 Fascism" (Video) 31 May 2006

Cancer Hits 283 Rescuers of 9/11 11 Jun 2006 Since 9/11, 283 World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers have been diagnosed with cancer, and 33 of them have died of cancer, says a lawyer for the ailing responders.

Federal appeals court lets anti-abortion groups join funding lawsuit in California 10 Jun 2006 The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Friday to allow two anti-abortion health care groups to intervene in a California lawsuit regarding the federal Weldon Amendment, which prohibits federal money from going to federal, state and local governments that discriminate against health care service providers not offering abortion services.

Democrats Have 20-Point Lead in U.S. 12 Jun 2006 The Democratic Party remains the favourite in this year’s election to the United States Congress, according to a poll by Ipsos-Public Affairs released by the Associated Press. [Diebold will take care of that lead, to be sure.]

Official Expects Voter ID Requirement to Complicate Fall Election 09 Jun 2006 (OH) Cuyahoga County's top elections official anticipates that a law requiring voters to show ID before being allowed to cast a ballot will cause problems in November. Elections director Michael Vu says they'll be fighting over provisional votes, which will be cast if voters don't have proper ID.

Uh Oh; The Bugs Are Eating Those "Pest Killing" Crops By James Donahue "Two research teams in England and Venezuela have discovered something alarming about the new genetically modified crops filled with insecticide. The insects not only eat them, they seem to thrive on them. Scientists at Imperial College in London and the Universidad Simon Rodrigues in Caracas found that the insects that the chemical additive was supposed to kill were not only feeding on the poison, but the stuff seems to help them thrive."

U.S. Mad Cow Cases Are Mysterious Strain 11 Jun 2006 Two cases of mad cow disease in Texas and Alabama seem to have resulted from a mysterious strain that could appear spontaneously in cattle, researchers say. Government officials are trying to play down differences between the two U.S. cases and the mad cow epidemic that has led to the slaughter of thousands of cattle in Britain since the 1980s.

Tropical Storm Alberto edges toward Florida 12 Jun 2006 Most of Florida's west coast was under a storm watch early on Monday after the first tropical storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, Alberto, formed off Cuba and appeared headed toward the state.

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CLG's Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D. and Lori Price receive the Patrick Henry Think Tank's American Hero Award 02 Nov 2005 The Patrick Henry Democratic Club --A Think Tank working to give the government back to the people. "Give me liberty or give me death!"

Ready for Revolution? Join CLG's Revolution Tactics Group and get ready to overthrow the Establishment.

CLG: Was a "Bomber" Superimposed onto Metropolitan Police Surveillance Camera Photo? 24 Jul 2005

CLG Interview with Joseph Wilson: The Bush Crowd: "A Real Threat to Our Republic" Statement of Joseph Wilson on the sentencing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller 06 Jul 2005

Petition to Senate to Investigate Oddities of 9/11 --29,350 signatures Please sign. Best comment on entire petition: #27207, "Muster a firing squad."

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