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On the 17th of October, 2006, President George Bush signed a piece of legislation, the Military Commissions Act, granting himself the privilege of naming who is and who isn't an "unlawful enemy combatant". Such persons will be denied the fundamental right of civilization, Habeas Corpus, the right to seek release from unlawful imprisonment. These prisoners can thus be held indefinitely, without charge, without appeal, without representation, without evidence. Furthermore, such enemies of the state can, and probably will be subjected to "alternative interrogation techniques", that most anyone would recognize as torture.
We've seen this before, in dictatorships across the world. A strongman, backed by fears of "foreign terrorists" is allowed to grant himself vast and tyrannical power with the consent of not only his appointed council of partisans, but also by the rallying public who's fear of the outsider outweighs their reason, who's love of freedom is overcome by zeal for "their team."
We are the unlawful combatants, ladies and gentlemen. We, who seek change, who wish to see the authorizing regime deposed, tried, and incarcerated. They rally "their people" against us, calling us traitors for questioning them, cowards for valuing life, terrorist-lovers for our respect for freedoms. "Their people" shout for our destruction in turn. They demand our removal from their society. They wish harm and death to befall us. They demand we be locked up and the key thrown away.
Now they may be able to get their wish. These people, these self-proclaimed "Patriotic Americans" who know the meaning of neither word, have sold away their rights and freedoms in the name of fear, and they wish to make us afraid, as well. They want us to be cowed into conformity with them, to be converted at waterboard-point. They honestly believe us to be cowards, insecure in our convictions. They rely on it.
Well, they're wrong. There was a time in my life where fear held me, but I outgrew it at the same time I outgrew training wheels. I don't fear having my door kicked in by men eager to drag me away to some undisclosed location. The worst they could do is perhaps kill me. The fear of death drives these people in all things they do, and they believe it will sway me, as well. I would rather lose my life than lose my freedoms. That there would even be a choice is beyond my consideration. I was born a free man, and I will die as one, under whatever circumstances my death happens to be under. And this includes a freedom from fear.
As we walk into this unsettling period of our nation's history, we cannot afford to be afraid. Fear weakens resolve, it strips away will, and it replaces them with uncertainty and hesitancy. This is the time we must speak with our loudest voice, when we must raise our fists and scream our fury to these usurpers. Now is our time, the people who know what justice is, the people who remember what America was and should be. If we falter now, there may not be another chance.
Don't be afraid of the retribution they hang over your head. Let's get our asses out there and do the right thing, and damn the consequences.
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