The government can do whatever it wants to you. It can come into your home or work place, pull you over on the road, stop you walking down the street, take you out of class, or find you hiding in the woods.

The government can charge you with 59 felonies you didn't commit. They can do it based on your race, creed, religion, hair color, what countries you have visited, what job you have, people you used to date, protests you took part of in college, the medication you are on, what you buy at the grocery store, the music you listen to, what Internet sites you frequently visit (including cent.com/abetting/), what kind of car you drive, who you hang out with, the kind of food you eat, the kind of clothes you wear, books you've checked out at the library, or no good reason at all.

The government can put you in jail and hold you there without bail. You are a threat to national security. You are a danger to yourself and others. You are a menace to society. You are the problem with kids today. You are the Unabomber. You are Timothy McViegh. You are Lee Harvey Oswald. You wrote the Communist Manifesto. You are Benedict Arnold. You are a traitor to your country. You are a bad, bad, bad person. You are whatever the government says you are.

The government can keep you in solitary confinement for nine months. The government has lawyers. The government has more prosecuting lawyers than you knew existed. The government has lawyers who want to make a name for themselves and will stop at nothing to make sure you are kept away from everyone in a small box. The government has lawyers who know every legal trick and scheme in the book. The government has lawyers who can lie while strapped to a polygraph machine and get away with it. The government has lawyers who will do their bidding.

The government can break you. You will sit and sit and sit in your cell while legal games go back in forth in the court room. You will plea bargain. You will admit to one of the 59 felony charges set against you. You will give up your right to vote. You will accept being found guilty of a crime you did not commit. You will want to be released from jail. You will want to go fishing. You will want to go home.

The government can get away with it. By pleading guilty, you have justified the government's case against you. You will counter-sue and hope for an out of court settlement. The government will claim victory and vow that if the case had gone to trial, you would be in prison for life. The government will show no sympathy or compassion. No matter if the judge gives you an sincere apology for everything you have endured. No matter if millions of people are and always were on your side. No matter if the president himself was "deeply troubled" by the treatment you received.

The government can make you the next Wen Ho Lee. You could be the person they point their finger at when things go wrong. Remember Richard Jewel? The guy who supposedly set off the bomb in Atlanta during the Olympics. That could be you too. One day you could be at your desk at work, and on another day, Janet Reno could be talking about what you still have to answer for to the press. You could be the patsy. You could take the fall. You could be whatever the government wants you to be.

I've always been on Wen Ho Lee's side (see my past columns Scapegoat and Free Lee). I don't have an Asian background. I'm not that high on science and technology. I don't have an affinity for Los Alamos or people who work on our nuclear weapons program. I only know when someone is getting screwed by the government.

But I won't shout too loud or protest till I'm blue
Because we all know what the government can do.

Chris Jungle will finally get around to reading Moby Dick if placed in solitary confinement. And then, Ulysses. And then...