The nationalistic fervor that accompanies military action and the repression of intellectual expression that criticizes government have had a long relationship in the United States. During World War I, for example, national security interests focused on communism. U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer warned Americans that "tongues of revolutionary heat were licking the altars of the churches, leaping into the belfry of the school bell, crawling into the sacred corners of American homes, seeking to replace marriage vows with libertine laws, burning up the foundations of society."

At that time the U.S. Supreme Court had not yet upheld any free speech claim brought under the First Amendment. Palmer manipulated the public's fear of and confusion about social issues such as labor strikes, race riots, protest bombings, and women's rights to justify a series of dramatic raids against individuals and organizations he suspected of holding antiwar and other "unorthodox" views. The "Palmer Raids" resulted in the deportation of almost 250 legal aliens from the United States to the Soviet Union and were the impetus for the creation of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU was organized to defend the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights against such assault.

Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy resurrected Palmer's style and approach while chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953 and 1954. His closed-door interrogations in pursuit of proof that Communists had infiltrated the U.S. Army included questions about witnesses' political beliefs, previous associations, and family members. Although none of the witnesses was imprisoned for any testimony, many who declined to answer questions lost their jobs.

Some Hoosiers were concerned that constitutional freedoms of speech and association were under threat and formed the Indiana Civil Liberties Association to educate Indiana citizens and defend them against loss of their civil rights. Organizers planned to hold their first meeting at the Indiana World War Memorial in downtown Indianapolis, but some Legionnaires protested and the venue was changed. In fact, the War Memorials Commission banned the ICLU from the public facility for two decades because some war veterans felt the group's defense of liberty for all citizens was unpatriotic.

Currently the ICLU is examining police treatment of Hoosiers who attempted to voice protests at the National Governors Association meeting, held in Indianapolis in August. Protesters objected to the meeting, funded by big corporations but generally closed to the public, as well as to positions held by some governors on various issues. Although political protests are seldom well-attended anywhere in Indiana, local and state police geared up for a Seattle-style mêlée that, of course, didn't happen. They took their cues from the homeland security folks and used 9/11 as an excuse to herd activists into unconstitutional and oxymoronic "free speech zones" and other holding areas. They even trumped up a tip on possible fire code violations in order to raid a home where some young progressives meet in Indianapolis to read books and talk about ideas.

The impetus behind such misguided police action is our present-day Palmer/McCarthy clone, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, whose similarly atavistic and paranoid beliefs have encouraged the government's current disregard for the rights of Americans to peaceably assemble in public and voice their dissent. At a time when some citizens are fighting to preserve the Bill of Rights and enforce equal rights for all people, Ashcroft has been traveling across the country in public-relations mode, trying to put a positive spin on his repressive and at least partially illegal USA Patriot Act.

His 18-city taxpayer-funded tour was, as you might guess, off-limits to the public but packed with law enforcement officers, probably because the controversial legislation is coming under increasing criticism for its lack of positive effect on national security and its negative impact on civil liberties. Three states and 154 local governments - including the Bloomington City Council - have passed resolutions against all or parts of the Act. Even the U.S. House of Representatives voted 303 to 118 this summer to prevent the Justice Department from using "sneak and peek" warrants for searches conducted without advance notification to the suspects.

Section 215 of the Act allows the FBI to access Americans' library, medical and religious affiliation records. The ACLU has filed suit against this provision as unconstitutional, and even anti-abortion groups support the action because of concern that abortion protesters could be targeted as "domestic terrorists."

It may be difficult for people whose beliefs and opinions are in the mainstream to comprehend the importance of First Amendment rights to other Americans who hold different ideas. But now that everyone's Fourth Amendment privacy rights are at stake, citizens and politicians from across the spectrum are opposing Ashcroft's tactics and want the Patriot Act repealed or revised. People who aren't concerned about the Attorney General either aren't old enough to remember World War II or have forgotten what they learned in high school about fascism.

There's no way to know who will be the next ideologue to try to undermine American liberty. But clearly, freedom can't defend itself. This is why the Indiana Civil Liberties Union exists - to protect the principles set forth in the Indiana and United States constitutions, especially the Bill of Rights. The ICLU has been defending your freedom for the last 50 years, whether you're a member or not. That's how true patriotism works. Don't let extremists take away anyone's rights. Some day you could be the American whose liberty is stolen.

Elsa F. Kramer is a freelance writer and editor in Indianapolis. For more information about the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, visit ...