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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

A 21st Century Declaration of Independence for Tampa

Wednesday December 4, 2002

If elected mayor, I will do all the usual things citizens expect of a mayor. I will, for instance, ensure that unglamorous but vital functions such as garbage collection are properly attended. The same attention will go to traffic issues, flooding, waste disposal, low-income housing and other vital matters related to the city's infrastructure. Unlike other candidates, however, I will devote much of my time to the promotion of (quality of) life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What higher passion could be expected of a mayor?

To make such a commitment specific and effective, I will lead the way for changes in the Tampa City Charter for language that advances this mission.

The city of Tampa operates by charter, and charter amendments are not difficult. Furthermore, an effort is already underway to promote civil liberties via charter reforms, and I vigorously support such efforts. Such action is important at this time because some at the federal level seem disposed to forego historic freedoms in favor of liberty-restricting initiatives in hopes of gaining added security from terrorist and other threats. I believe if we sacrifice freedom for security, we will find ourselves with less of both.

The current efforts to amend the city charter are led by a group known as the Tampa Bill of Rights Defense Committee. This Committee seeks, and I support, a preamble statement that addresses the Declaration of Independence, as I have during the campaign. We are natural allies, for the Committee recognizes the following conditions and beliefs:

Connections between the diversity of our population and the community's character.
That a threat to any one person's Constitutional rights is a threat to the rights of all.
That the city is on record in support of protecting the civil rights and liberties of all residents.
That no laws should be made "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
That Amendments 4, 5, 6, 8 and 14 are just as vital today as when they were ratified into the Constitution.

The Committee also notes that other municipalities and jurisdictions across the land have reaffirmed and renewed their allegiance to liberty and the pursuit of happiness with actions such as I have proposed as part of my mayoral campaign. Furthermore, the Committee states, as I have on several occasions throughout this campaign, that such liberties, though precious, are now directly threatened by the Federal government in the recently enacted USA PATRIOT Act.

This act removes most, if not all, supervision of telephone and Internet surveillance. The Act also expands the role of government; it allows federal agencies to mount secret searches. In summary, the PATRIOT Act chills historically protected speech while granting the government (FBI) broad access to sensitive medical, mental health, financial and educational records without having to show evidence of a crime and without a court order.

How can any candidate for mayor who is willing to take an oath to defend the constitution NOT advocate and commit to a 21st century declaration of independence or, in this case, city charter reform to protect and defend the city constitution?

I won't review all the threats to our city and national constitutions posed by this dreadful and Orwellian-named "PATRIOT Act." That information is available elsewhere. Instead, I'll summarize the elements of a proposed 21st century declaration of independence for Tampa via new Charter language.

If elected, I will address all the following elements addressed in the new Tampa charter:

Arrange for municipal monitoring of the USA PATRIOT Act
Work for the repeal of all legislation that violates those fundamental rights and liberties embodied in the Municipal Ordinances of the City of Tampa and in the Constitutions of the State of Florida and the United States.
Make it a duty of all city officials and employees to act in such a manner as to defend and safeguard freedoms of speech, religion, assembly and privacy long enjoyed by citizens of Tampa.
Instruct the Tampa Police Department to refrain from enforcing any unconstitutional federal directives.
Require regular reports by all official agencies (for example, U.S. Attorney's Office, the Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida State Police, etc.) regarding the nature and extent of actions carried out under the Executive Orders and the "PATRIOT Act" affecting any residents of the City of Tampa.
Seek the names of any Tampa citizens detained by such authorities and the charges leveled against them.
Publicize the extent of electronic or other surveillance carried out in the City of Tampa under powers granted in the USA PATRIOT Act, such as the monitoring of political meetings, religious gatherings or other activities protected by the First Amendment within the City of Tampa.
Discover and publish for all to know the number of occasions that education records have been obtained from public schools and institutions of higher learning. Obtain and disseminate information as well regarding the incidents of this nature affecting libraries in the City of Tampa and/or the number of times records of books purchased have been granted from bookstores in the City of Tampa under section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act.

This kind of information will be shared with all the people of Tampa by the mayor's office in my administration. The sensitivity and opposition of the city to such tampering with citizen freedoms will be communicated widely to all the people, as well as to the agencies concerned, such as all city departments, the State Police, Governor and Attorney General of the State of Florida, the Florida Congressional and Statehouse delegations, the local U.S. Attorney's office, the United States Attorney General and the President of the United States.

If it should develop that Tampa comes to be seen in time locally and nationally as more enthusiastic about and vigilant in protecting a 21st century Declaration of Independence, this will be something of which all Tampa residents can be justifiably proud. Let's make Tampa a better place to live, and among the freest of the free cities and states of America.

Be well and please continue to look on the bright side of life.

Domain: purpose
Subdomain: applied wellness

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