I want to make one thing clear. I love America. I am a patriot.
Some people are, at the moment, incredibly terrified by the fact that last week President Bush and Congress enacted a law that suspends habeas corpus for terrorists, enemy combatants, and the like.
Habeas corpus places the burden of proof on the government to justify detaining someone.
But I don't see what everybody is so worried about.
Even if the government wished to infringe upon the rights of citizens, it wouldn't happen to a pro-administration student like me.
I know that in this country everybody is equal - unless you're black, Latino, homosexual, female, Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, etc.
I'm sure that anybody can take part equally in government in the United States - unless you're poor or weren't part of the Skull and Bones.
I'm certain that nobody has ever been persecuted for his or her religious practice - unless you're Native American.
It is indisputable that no innocent person has been put to death by the state - unless you look at the 122 wrongful death-row convictions over the past 32 years.
I am positive that nobody has had basic medical care withheld - unless you don't have insurance.
Without a doubt, there have never been any potentially lifesaving cures left unexplored because of religious ideas - except for people suffering from Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
It is unquestionable that the American government ensures us a safe and healthy environment to live in concert with - unless it involves any damage to big business.
Surely there is no evidence of fraudulent elections - unless you voted in Florida in 2000, Ohio in 2004 or any place where the poor and minorities vote.
Certainly corporations are not privileged over citizens - except if it relates to bankruptcy, accountability, or control over government.
Undoubtedly we have a free and independent media - only regulated when we're at war, when the government pays reporters to write about Cuba or when Fox News labels Mark Foley as a Democrat.
There's no question that our government takes the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" - but not if they're Mexican.
It's an incontrovertible fact that the United States acts as a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world - unless you live in Iraq or Afghanistan at the moment, lived in Nicaragua or Vietnam in the 1970s or Korea in the 1950s.
Obviously, the American government never monitors organizations that dissent from policy - except if those groups include the ACLU or pacifist groups.
Most importantly, the government never ever lies - unless we're talking about intelligence leading up to the Iraq war or when we're told that weakening habeas corpus doesn't endanger American citizens.
So, of course, I have nothing to be afraid of. This country is the greatest country in the world. We live in a nation of laws and a nation founded on freedom. And there's nothing wrong with the government making laws that undermine freedom.
All that happens from suspending habeas corpus is that more Americans are encouraged to love America.
There is one small aspect of this that is making me sad, however. Today I am coerced to love America. My whole life up to now I loved America because I chose to.
Alex Ginsburg is a religious studies senior just waiting for the man to send him to a secret CIA prison in Syria. He can be reached at: alexander.ginsburg@asu.edu.
