Today, things are different. Today, we awoke a nation perhaps forever changed, thanks to a president who considers
destroying everything that once made this nation great a good thing. And thanks, also, to the apathy or, worse, the
willing consent of millions of Americans. Today, therefore, things are different, because yesterday, in the midst of National Character Counts Week, the president tarnished our national character by signing into law one of the most immoral pieces of legislation in our nation's history. To the president, the Military Commissions Act
represents, in his words, "one of the most important pieces of legislation in the war on terror", exemplifying a nation that "is patient and decent and fair". History, I'm afraid, won't be as kind a judge. Nor, with your help, will a motivated electorate, whose decision to check a reckless White House this November is the only thing standing between democracy and tyranny. When you cast a ballot this fall, vote as if your life depends on it.
Because it does. Criticism of the Act pointed to its reprehensible disregard for America's legal and ethical traditions. "With his signature, President Bush enacts a law that is both unconstitutional and un-American,"
said American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony Romero. "The president can now - with the approval of Congress - indefinitely hold people without charge, take away protections against horrific abuse, put people on trial based on hearsay evidence, authorize trials that can sentence people to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses, and slam shut the courthouse door for habeas petitions. Nothing could be further from the American values we all hold in our hearts than the Military Commissions Act."
Added Sen. Russ Feingold, "The legislation signed by the President today violates basic principles and values of our constitutional system of government. It allows the government to seize individuals on American soil and detain them indefinitely with no opportunity to challenge their detention in court. And the new law would permit an individual to be convicted on the basis of coerced testimony and even allow someone convicted under these rules to be put to death." Regarding his colleagues' role in the bill's passing, he said, "I am deeply disappointed that Congress enacted this law. We will look back on this day as a stain on our nation's history."
The true extent, sadly, of the Military Commissions Act hasn't yet sunk into the American consciousness. And I'm afraid it won't, so long as the loudest voices in the debate remain the dumbest. I'd love to say the blame for our descent into the darkness rests squarely with the president and his administration, but that would be a lie. No, it also lies with those whose
ignorance, fearfulness or spite allowed all of this to happen. Those who cast a vote for the president because he seemed like
their kind of guy, the kind of guy with whom they'd love to grab a beer. Those who voted Republican because they thought they were moral people, despite the fact that the party is mired in a scandal involving
covering for a pedophile (to say nothing of the fact that Republicans are rationalizing
torture). Those who voted Republican because they thought it would keep America safe, something that also allowed them to sit idly by as, using that baseless claim, the party in power systematically reduced America from democracy to dictatorship. Thanks to this corrupt bargain,
all of our lives hang in the balance.
And why do
all of our lives hang in the balance? Because legislation like this doesn't just affect how our government treats its adversaries in the so-called war on terror, it affects how our government treats each and every one of us. Besides, words like "adversaries", "enemies" and "terrorists", when in the hands of this administration, are rather vague terms, as this sweeping bill proves. Consider those -
peace groups,
gay rights advocates,
environmental activists,
journalists,
everyday Muslims - this administration has spied upon. Consider, also, this portion of the declassified
key judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate, sentiments
echoed Monday by Michael Chertoff: "Anti-US and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies. This could prompt some leftist, nationalist, or separatist groups to adopt terrorist methods to attack US interests. The radicalization process is occurring more quickly, more widely, and more anonymously in the Internet age, raising the likelihood of surprise attacks by unknown groups whose members and supporters may be difficult to pinpoint." And consider, finally, the expansiveness with which this White House defines those
it terms opposed to our nation's interests and
the lengths this to which this administration will go to destroy its opposition, including those who once considered themselves its top supporters. Taking these things into account, how can thinking Americans
not treat the signing of the Military Commissions Act as a grave threat to our freedom?
The Military Commissions Act is a shameful piece of legislation, one worthy of our outrages. But this isn't a partisan issue. It's an
American issue. It should cause everyone to ask themselves what kind of nation would we like to be. Would we like to be a nation that respects its legal and ethical traditions and doesn't sink to the level of its adversaries? Or would we like to be a tin-pot dictatorship in the hands of a sociopathic despot? Today, it appears those in power have chosen the latter, something that should scare every one of us. It should even scare those Bush apologists who looked the other way while their president signed away our rights and our national dignity.
Why? Well, my right-wing friends, the law the president signed doesn't only apply to
Republican administrations. Just like the powers this executive has amassed aren't relegated only to
Republican presidents. Imagine these sweeping powers in the hands of, say, President Hillary Clinton? Do you want
her, my Republican friends, to be able to decide who is and isn't an unlawful enemy combatant? Do you want
her deciding what is and isn't torture?
Of course you don't. I don't, either - nor do I think a Democratic administration would stand for such immoral behavior - but I don't want
any president to have these powers, nor should you.
If history has proven anything, it's that there's no self-imposed "off" switch on a power grab. Without proper oversight,
as I've written, the pursuit of unchecked president power proceeds, well, unchecked. Today's political dissenters may very well be tomorrow's unlawful enemy combatants. Judging by this administration's propensity to expand whom it considers its enemies, is that really
that strange an idea? Imagine a world in which those arrested at Tuesday's White House protests aren't immediately released but are instead held indefinitely, without charge. A world in which those arrested -
American citizens - are not only held without charge and without the ability to challenge their detention, but also tortured, subsequently put on trial with the very likely possibility that ill-gotten evidence is the only thing standing between them and the death penalty. This nightmare scenario isn't years away. It's here now, thanks both to an administration willing to sacrifice its citizens' rights and a citizenry largely willing to allow its rights to be sacrificed. A citizenry, also, that can no longer afford to excuse away these shameful actions. It wasn't a nameless, faceless terrorists who lost their rights Tuesday. It was all of us. And the only way to restore some sanity to our government is to cast a Democratic vote this November. As a nation, we can no longer ignore those warning us to vote because, in their words, our lives depend on it.
They do.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(504 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
