Drones Are the Price of the Perpetual Warfare State
The U.S. government's drone program is the latest example of how war threatens the rights of ordinary citizens and corrodes their constitutional republic.
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Since 9/11, Republican and Democratic administrations have been hiding their warfare procedures behind a veil of classification and bureaucracy while steadily increasing their ability to both spy on the private communication of American citizens and kill people based on the president's sole discretion. The judgment of Congress and the president was intended to inform major decisions on foreign policy and national defense in order to protect the rights and liberties of Americans under the Constitution. When secrecy shields government accountability and transparency, it short circuits our democratic process. Currently, the U.S. government operates in the absence of checks and balances when the president and his lawyers can claim that the courts and the Congress cannot rule or set standards on whether its robust executive power violates constitutionally protected Due Process rights. The collateral damage unleashed on foreign civilians by means of war is egregious, but the altering of the structure of institutions dedicated to protecting our liberties is yet another upsetting implication of our permanent state of war.
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Texas A&M University Professor Christopher Layne writes in "Kant or Cant: The Myth of Democratic Peace" that the greater the external threat a state faces or believes that it does, the more autocratic its foreign policy making process will be and the more centralized its political structures will become. Layne argues that external threats necessitate a powerful governmental apparatus to mobilize resources for national security purposes; in turn, the more likely these states are to adopt statist forms of democracy or even authoritarian structures. As we have witnessed with past conflicts, and especially since 9/11, war concentrates power in the executive branch and thus expands the limits placed on our constitutional republic.
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The problem, of course, is that Americans don't believe that our strong and expansive national security state, which currently operates in the absence of specific limits and clear legal boundaries, can be exploited for reasons having nothing to do with protecting the country. Many Americans trust and admire President Obama, as others trusted and admired President Bush. The issue, though, is that the president's job is not to protect Americans, but surprisingly enough is to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
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http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/03/14/perpetual-war-makes-obamas-drone-abuses-possible