Since 9-11, the War on Terror has been fuzzily described as one of indeterminate duration against enemies of uncertain and shifting identity. Again and again U.S. citizens have been told to expect a costly, protracted struggle, and have been reminded that this "war" is our (not the international community's, but America's) highest priority. To support the "war effort" citizens have been asked to increase consumer spending, make do with fewer civil liberties, and swallow their doubts about the administration's ambitions.

Further concessions to federal authority are now being sought. Attorney General John Ashcroft appeared before the House Judiciary Committee recently to ask that the Patriot Act - a comprehensive security statute that already has raised serious human rights concerns - be enhanced. According to Ashcroft, the original act's teeth weren't quite sharp enough. Government's right to detain and hold its citizens must be expanded further, and vaguely defined terrorist-related activities reclassified as capital crimes. Although thoughtful Americans have deplored the tendency of foreign dictators to "disappear" their troublesome opponents, Mr. Ashcroft's proposals seem less worthy of Thomas Jefferson than of a Middle Eastern potentate.

At the same time, Americans are being gradually conditioned to accept the necessity of further pre-emptive strikes against putative threats to our security. The cost to domestic programs of future battles in the war on terror is not, however, spelled out. Clearly, between high-tech wars and tax relief for the wealthy, something (like Medicare) must give.

The picture painted more than half a century ago by George Orwell is not yet complete, but its outlines have been traced and gradually the sordid details are being added. Neither network journalists nor the general public have seen fit to question these developments because, as Big Brother reminds us, "Ignorance is Strength."

If the worst elements of Orwell's prophecy are not fully realized, it may be because courageous, high-minded citizens like the Truax Four have taken up the slack. Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, these Madisonians protested our government's casual disregard for international law and the U.N. Charter by nonviolently blocking an entrance to the Wisconsin Air National Guard installation at Truax Field. On June 26 they will appear before Judge Shelley Gaylord to defend their civil disobedience as an appropriate response to U.S. actions that one protester described as "immoral, illegal and illogical."

Another of the accused, Diane Farsetta, put it this way: "The Bush administration would have us believe that the war is over ... but the need for such action will continue until our government abandons its current policies."

A few commentators of late have expressed concerns about the future of citizen rule, civil liberties and economic opportunity in this country. The signs, they say, are ominous. In George Orwell's dystopia, protest was out of the question. We, on the other hand, still have time to conquer our fear and to raise our voices.

Rev. Michael Schuler is senior minister at the First Unitarian Society.

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