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Show BILL OF RIGHTS Hysteria Is a Chronic Disease That Thrives on National Fear This Is the last of three articles on the Bill of Rl Jills and Bill of Rights Day which will be eelebrated- December IS. Hysteria is a chronic national disease dis-ease which thrives in an atmosphere of fear. It is an illness which has gripped our nation before and which is flaring up again as we face the threat of communism and take steps to meet that threat. The most dangerous dan-gerous sympton of national hysteria is abridgment of the civil liberties set forth in our Bill of Rights. These points were recalled on Bill of Eights Day, by the American Civil Liberties Union through its, executive execu-tive director Patrick Murphy Malin. Fear and insecurity led to the infamous in-famous Alien and Sedition acts of Hysteria over national security legislation is not new in American Ameri-can history. Shown here is clash in Congress in 1798 during debate de-bate on the Alien and Sedition Acts. The law, aimed at securing the country from French invasion, inva-sion, was used to curb opposition opposi-tion political views and a political polit-ical party the then Republicans. Republi-cans. Matthew Lyon, a Republican Republi-can congressman from Vermont, ' was so irrated by the Federalist gibes that he spat in the face of Federalist Griswold of Connecticut. Connecti-cut. Since there was not a two-thirds two-thirds vote to expel Lyons, Griswold Gris-wold took matters in his own hand and attacked Lyon with a bludgeon. 1798, passed in an atmosphere of war hysteria. Taking advantage of anti-French feeling, the Federalists passed bills allegedly to curb alien influence, actually to suppress opposition op-position from the rising "radical" Jeffersonian Republicans. But the common sense of the American people peo-ple and their fervent belief in free expression, iwas exhibited. Americans Ameri-cans realized the threat to then-liberties then-liberties in time, and dealt the Federalists Fed-eralists an overwhelming defeat at the polls and repudiated their spurious spuri-ous legislation. Today, history's lesson les-son seems momentarily forgotten as, confronted with new fears, we are again putting hasty restrictions on fundamental civil liberties. "NE SUCH RESTRICTION is the McCarran act, an attempt to tighten national security by registration regis-tration of Communist and Communist-front organizations, and stiffening stiffen-ing of immigration and naturalization naturaliza-tion laws. On the surface it may sound like a good idea, but it still strikes at the heart of expression of opinion. Already it has created considerable con-siderable confusion in immigration matters. And because of its loose terminology and broad provisions, it could be used by the controlling political party to outlaw opposition, just as the Federalists attempted in 1798. In today's Insecure world, Malin said, there must be protection against sabotage and treason. But our safety will only be insured by democratic means, not by institution of the very totalitarian methods we are fighting. Despite these temporary tempo-rary periods of hysteria, in times of crisis the nation has always kept a balance between preserving national na-tional security and maintaining individual in-dividual rights. December 15, our Bill of Rights Day, recalls the firm belief in this guarantee of fundamental funda-mental liberties that has seen us through periods of crisis. Staunch championship of the Bill of Rights is still democracy's greatest weapon for freedom, at home and abroad. |