The American people MUST be given the opportunity to declare whether or not they still believe in limited government, in checks and balances, in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Unless Democrats are willing to campaign on this simple point, to raise public awareness and public outcry of the implications of the legislation just passed, one cannot rely upon the Courts to intervene, as much as we might like them to. After all, the Courts will not case in which the appellant does not have standing, and to have standing you would have to be in custody and denied access to the Courts - Catch-22 anyone?
You are, so long as this law is on the books, now in a dictatorship. Okay, letGs label it properly - we have a new euphemism -- you are now in a Decidership, there is only one Decider and he pretends that he is still a president under a Constitution.
This diary will probably disappear in the midst of the fully on diaries on this subject, most of which will be more cogent than one I cut turn out in the few minutes before I must turn to sleep - I get up in less than 6 hours for my next school day, in which I am supposed to teach lessons on a Constitutional government - I may no longer be able to do so, not because I am unwilling to teach, but because so long as this law stands the Constitution has become meaningless.
That is why this should be the SOLE issue on which honorable Democrats campaign. This administration and this Republican Congress are willing to gut the Constitution. The president as Decider has the sole power to determine if you or I are enemy combatants - even though we are American citizens within the boundaries of a nation in theory under a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. If he determines that our actions are aiding the enemy he can easily now lock us up as his minions have denied entrance to the US to an eminent Islamic scholar merely because that man contributed to a charity which then used some of the many funds contributed to it for purposes we have unilaterally declared to be terroristic. If such is the standard, Princess Haifa, wife of former Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Bandar should be arrested and charged as an enemy combatant, since some of the funds used by some of the hijackers originated from her contributions.
And given the increased access to all forms of telecommunications this administration asserts and this Congress seems willing to grant, any communication any of us even reads - including this post on dailykos - could be interpreted by an unchecked Decider as aiding terrorist enemies and used as a basis to arrest and detain indefinitely anyone of us. Let the administration deny that they do not under this legislation have that power, at least in theory. And since this administration has often claimed in practice powers for which there is no theoretical justification, we cannot expect that they will do other than exercise all possible powers to fullest extend that they deem Gǣnecessary.Gǥ
If you think my alluding to possible retribution for reading a site such as this, one merely need listen to the words of the Decider denigrating those Democrats who opposed this power grab.
Of course the Bill is Unconstitutional. If it is not, then the Constitution is meaningless. But then, this administration is prepared to deny Marbury v Madison if it stands in the way of their exercising power, rendering moot the words Marshall offered to justify ruling part of the Judiciary Act unconstitutional.
GodwinGs Law is now obsolete -- it was repealed by the actions of the current Congress in passing this legislation. Let me offer a caution - the only reason Nazi comparisons are inappropriate is that they are insufficient - Hitler never had the power to destroy any and every country in the world. We might not have the manpower to invade Iraq, but we still have the nuclear weapons and delivery systems that enable us to wreak total devastation on any nation that dares to oppose us, and we now have had our equivalent, as another diarist pointed out today, of the Enabling Act that removed any further check upon the grandiosity and obscenity of HitlerGs visions for his rule.
If we believe in democracy, then we must take this issue to the American people. Those running for office who have any courage MUST make this the only issue that matters - are we going to insist on a government of laws and not of men, of laws restricted by the overarching construction of a Constitution and Bill of Rights which were designed to prevent such arrogation of powers into the hands of the executive? If we make the case forcefully and cannot persuade the American people, then the nation will rightfully have abandoned its heritage, and we will know that thoughtful people should no longer feel obligated to be loyal to this country and would be well advised to seek shelter elsewhere.
I believe in democracy. I believe that if we clearly and forcefully present the case, we can rally the American people.
If we do not believe that we can rally the people, then we have no choice but to admit that we do not believe in democracy. If we do not believe in democracy, then the efforts I and many others have been making this cycle - in funds, in time, in blood, sweat and tears - would have been worse than pointless.
I apologize that I cannot be coherent. I wish I had the gift of expression of some of the other diarists here. But I also cannot be silent. And so, before I am declared an enemy combatant, I hereby commit to speak - and write - as loudly as I can on this subject to all who will listen and even to those who will not. The actions of the Congress are an abandonment of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Anyone who believes in the kind of government we have had - with all of its flaws - since 1789 MUST oppose the administration and its supporters. If we do not, then we acquiesce in tyranny.
I would rather die than so acquiesce. I am prepared to die, I am prepared to be tortured, knowing that under torture I might abjure. I am prepared to be outcast, scorned, denigrated. But I will not be silent, and I will not be ignored.
What about you?
You can not spread freedom overseas while destroying it at home.
You can not fight for freedom of religion by turning your country into a religous theocracy.
You can not believe in freedom of speech and question the patriotism of everyone who disagrees with you.
You can not teach tolerance by torture.
The democrats, who spoke out on the floor before voting, did not say anything to the public at large by speaking to the media, sat there and voted away our democracy. These effing wimps are more concerned about their getting re-elected than they are about saving democracy.
I hear your outrage and I think my outrage button is burnt out already.
Now the President has been given powers to secretly abduct and detain people on suspicion of terror, coerce them into making confessions under torture, hold them indefinitely in prison, keep them out of the judicial system and try them in special courts where they have no right to an attorney, and no right to the evidence that will be used against them.
The President has been given a the right to rule as a tyrant. America has caved in the face of terrorism by undermining our own values. Why should we trust a tyrant?
Your credibility is seriously limited if you support the war in Iraq, the bungling administration’s execution of the war in Afghanistan and its so called “war against terror” if you have never served in the military, or even registered for the draft. I agree most Americans are Terrorized at the thought of this administration running politically unchecked for another two years, so much so that in America there is a huge wave of rebellion to that possibility. The American People will execute their own war against Terror this November 7th and vote out of office all those rubber stamp politicians that supported sending our children to fight in a bungled neo-con expedition while those so eagerly supporting the war have never had the courage to serve in combat themselves.Michael Boetjer
Captain U. S. Army
Double Blue Star Father
TeacherKen, I don't have time to read the whole thing now, but I agree with the first couple paragraphs.
We are entering a dangerous time. When the bill is signed later this week and becomes law the America we have all known will cease to exist as we have known it.
What does this say about one party government, "my vote doesn't count," "politicians are all the same so I'll vote Nader," and other such ideas?
Your interpretation of what what has happened and what's likely to result from the votes is dead on target. In some ways, it feels like "I'm back home again" (in "socialist" Poland of my first 23 yrs). In some ways, it's *worse*... at least, in the communist countries (since '56 when became aware of what was going on) we never *legalized* such behavior; it was all done on the sly. You'd have thought that the *American* Congress would have more sense of honor than to place such a s**t stain on our national reputation.
It's not just Warner (who postured then folded, like a limp noodle) and Allen (of whom I expected no better) who have broken their vowes to serve the country and who've wiped their scrawny buts with our Constitution. As far as I could tell, *every Repub representative in the House* voted for the abomination as well. They *all* need to be interned as "unlawful combatants" IMO. Preferably in some secret little prson in Kazachstan, where people think that waterboarding is an Olympic sport.
I agree with you, teacherken; there's *no other issue* that's more vital at this point of our history, unless we're *all* prepared to join the ranks of "disappeareds", on the Grand Delusioner's say-so, without any prior notice. With Uncle Joe (Stalin) you could be the best friend and ally today, a broken up marionette tomorrow and gone altogether the day after that.
Those bills are HIDEOUS.
I've been feeling literally sick to my stomach since Thursday; everything I eat comes right back. And the 12 *Democratic* Senators who'd signed the last bill make it all worse. I hope they rot in the hell of their own making.