The speak-now, think-later crowd has worked itself into a lather over the Tampa City Council's reasonable stance on the antiterror Patriot Act. The council voted 4-3 Thursday for a resolution asking Congress to review the act and ensure that it protects fundamental civil liberties. This is hardly subversive, or as some on the losing side have called it, a bad message to send to American troops in Iraq. As President Bush has said, after all, freedom is what these Americans are fighting for.
That the council was so narrowly split on the noncommittal language of the resolution shows how deeply symbolism surrounds every aspect of the Iraq debate. The resolution is very simple. It affirms the city's opposition to terrorism and its support for civil liberties. It calls on Congress to "review" the act and to repeal those sections that violate any fundamental constitutional right, such as freedom of speech and religion, the right to privacy, the presumption of innocence and the right to a lawyer and a fair, public trial.
Nearly 200 other communities in America have passed similar measures, because the resolution balances security with this nation's 200-year tradition of freedom. If council members are to be faulted for anything, it should be for jumping on a symbolic issue while ignoring examples of these civil rights injustices happening here at home. As we said, the resolution is nonbinding.
