Here's just a taste of what's at stake today

19 CRF Parts 4 and 22:

Forget no-fly lists. If Uncle Sam gets its way, beginning on Jan. 14,
2007, we'll all be on no-fly lists, unless the government gives us
permission to leave-or re-enter-the United States.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSA) has proposed that all
airlines, cruise lines-even fishing boats-be required to obtain
clearance for each passenger they propose taking into or out of the
United States.

It doesn't matter if you have a U.S. Passport - a "travel document"
that now, absent a court order to the contrary, gives you a virtually
unqualified right to enter or leave the United States, any time you
want. When the DHS system comes into effect next January, if the
agency says "no" to a clearance request, or doesn't answer the
request at all, you won't be permitted to enter-or leave-the United
States.

Consider what might happen if you're a U.S. passport holder on
assignment in a country like Saudi Arabia. Your visa is about to
expire, so you board your flight back to the United States. But wait!
You can't get on, because you don't have permission from the HSA.
Saudi immigration officials are on hand to escort you to a squalid
detention center, where you and others who are now effectively
"stateless persons" are detained, potentially indefinitely, until
their immigration status is sorted out.

Why might the HSA deny you permission to leave-or enter-the United
States? No one knows, because the entire clearance procedure would be
an administrative determination made secretly, with no right of
appeal. Naturally, the decision would be made without a warrant,
without probable cause and without even any particular degree of
suspicion. Basically, if the HSA decides it doesn't like you, you're
a prisoner - either outside, or inside, the United States, whether or
not you hold a U.S. passport.

What this means is that your U.S. passport which proves you are a citizen, will be meaningless. Suppose you go on a Caribbean vacation. The government, under the pretense of "homeland security", will now be able to refuse you entry back into the country FOR ANY REASON. Have you given money to Democrats this year? That may be sufficient reason to deny you entry. Have an anti-war bumper-sticker on your car? Stay out. Think this is far-fetched? Look at how paranoid this Administration is. Look at how they have decided that anyone who doesn't support them 100% "loves the terrorists."

If you're planning a trip out of the country this year (as I am), you'd better enjoy it. Because you may never be able to leave again and have any assurance of being allowed to return home.

Vote.