The Choice: Patriotism or Support for George W. Bush

[rocketdem]

The following is an editorial that I wrote this evening primarily for the purposes of personal therapy. I write them from time to time when I reach a boiling point of frustration with the news. I offer it here for your entertainment and in the spirit of the 18th-century anonymous pamphleteers. Enjoy.

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Over the course of the last several months the situation in this country has become more and more clear even as the potential solutions to the problems we face have become more and more convoluted. Americans today have a stark choice to make. Each individual must decide whether he or she is a patriot or whether he or she supports the policies and practices of this administration. The clarity in the situation takes the form of understanding that these are indeed mutually exclusive propositions.

A patriot loves what this country stands symbolizes, loves its foundation principles, loves how over the course two hundred and thirty years with fits and starts, through boom and bust, war and peace has gradually reached further and further towards the fulfillment of its shining promises. This has been possible in no small measure thanks to the wisdom of our founding fathers and the governing structures they have bequeathed to us as eloquently established in our Constitution.

Yet we now have an administration and a president who, behind the veil of fear and war, has sought to subvert the most basic precepts of the Constitution in the name of assuming greater power. Recently the president declared, directly and indirectly, that while in a state of self-declared and unending war, he and his administration has the authority to ignore the statutory and constitutional laws of the land.

The NSA spying scandal is far more than just another Washington hullabaloo centered around legal technicalities. The law regarding secret wiretapping is clear. It lays out specific practices and procedures that must be followed. Deviations from these practices and procedures represent violations of the law as surely as does driving ninety in a thirty-mile-per-hour zone. Further, there is no need to wonder as to whether there were in fact deviations. The president has clearly and repeatedly admitted as much. Therefore, the president has clearly and repeatedly admitted to breaking the law.

Also, the law in question establishing a secret court for judicial oversight of wiretapping authority was created as a means for staying true to the Constitution, specifically the Fourth Amendment. Thus, by violating the statutory law regarding secret wiretaps, the president has also violated the Constitution of the United States, the very document to which he has twice sworn an oath to uphold.

Other examples of the assumption of new executive powers include the super-judicial internment of citizens designated as enemy combatants. This is a clear violation of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Plus there is the new practice of generating "signing statements" for hundreds of bills signed into law describing in some cases how the president believes that these laws do not apply to the administration.

The president has claimed that through his powers as commander in chief, he has the authority to do these things, to break the law, to conveniently and deceptively reinterpret the law, and to subvert the Constitution. Is that a reasonable posture? If that were true, if the president could violate laws as he alone deems necessary, then how different would that office be from any run of the mill military dictator? If the administration can enforce or not enforce laws as it see fit, then the purpose of the legislative branch of government as the creator of laws becomes moot. The purpose of the judicial branch as the oversight authority in ensuring that laws are followed also becomes moot. Under this scheme, the president can make and enforce laws virtually by the seat of his pants, in other words in a wholly arbitrary and, should he desire, self-serving manner. Thus, this supposed expansion of executive authority is in reality nothing short of the assumption of dictatorial power.

This is first and foremost a nation of laws. Its government is based upon a Constitution. When these things are no longer true, then this nation is not what our forefathers had envisioned and it is not what true patriots throughout our history have fought for it to be. For this reason it is clear that individuals who through misguided loyalty or, unfortunately, simple ignorance continue to support the practices and policies of this president and his administration cannot in any way be considered patriots. One cannot love this country and all that for which it stands and simultaneously support an administration working so diligently, so deceptively to destroy our heritage and poison our future.

[Obamarama]

1. Very eloquent and oh-so right on...

Thanks for sharing!

[justabob]

2. good work

You write well. Since you mentioned the Pamphleteers.... print that out and pass it around. If you frequent Starbucks or someplace similar leave copies with the newspapers for others or on the tables, pin it to bulletin boards. Its just an idea, but this piece is easy to understand and is objectively written. I think it is important to put the word out however we can because it ain't gonna happen if we are waiting on CNN to do an expose.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. Bravo!

Well done!