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Or something along those lines.
The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 were passed after the U.S. entered WWI. The acts resulted in the imprisonment of many anti-war activists and 248 people were deported to Russia. This was the beginning of the Red Scare that culminated in the McCarthy debacle decades later.
These acts were the most sweeping abridgments of civil liberties since the short-lived Sedition Act of 1798.
We should note two important issues associated with these acts.
1. Although they were eventually repealed in 1921, when they came up for renewal President Wilson urged congress to retain them despite the U.S. no longer being in a state of war. By some reports he also lobbied for the addition of censorship powers for the presidency. Wilson, a racist and pre-emptive invader of foreign nations, was also a Democrat. My how the parties have changed. Understand your roots, even if they make you squirm.
2. The Espionage and Sedition Acts were a response to a growing concern that anti-war rhetoric would make it increasingly difficult to conscript the military to appropriate staffing levels. Um, yikes!
If history repeats itself we may have cause for optimism. Wilson ran for a third term and was whipped in the greatest gap in history by a man who barely campaigned. Then again, computers weren't counting the votes and Americans had only begun to be anesthetized by mass media.
Still, I have hope that reason will prevail. It may just need a little nudge every now and then.
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