So finally the Democrats and Republicans have found something on which they can agree and as one would expect it’s a catastrophe. A bill drafted in secret by Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ) and passed in a closed-door committee meeting without even a single hearing will come up for a Senate vote this week. It is the most lurid assault on the United States Constitution we have yet faced, in that it will allow detention of American citizens, without charge or trial, indefinitely, in the United States or abroad by the military. This insult to the concept of individual liberty is the strongest assault on our freedom ever attempted by even the most totalitarian fanatics.
It is called The Worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial provision in S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill. It is now on the Senate floor. It’s so offensive that even Ron Paul (R-TX) called it out at a recent Republican Debate. This is exactly the kind of big government no one wants or needs. In fact it is an assault on every kind of personal liberty we have fought for, for two hundred years.
It’s bad enough that every Homeland Security Official thinks they have a right to grab and hold anyone with a foreign accent for any reason they want, this is the ultimate “1984” culmination. We will have finally arrived at the complete fascist state. Just as important we will have allowed the terrorists to win because what makes our country different from theirs will no longer exist. Unfortunately those of us who used this exact example when we fought Homeland Security over the suspension of habeas corpus during the Bush/Cheney years will have been proved right. Not exactly a victory to be hoped for.
We all understand that in the last decade, congress has become less than functional, in fact less than useless, but have they all become such pathetic, cowardly worms that they are willing to give up our most cherished freedoms as they quake in fear at the few toothless terrorists that have managed to survive the onslaught of our armed forces and to hear them tell it, super functional defense agencies.
Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) has offered up the Udall Amendment, which is said to strip away the harmful provisions but why take the chance. This piece of legislation is already soaked in the blood of every man woman and child who ever died to protect our blessed freedoms. This bill is an assault on everything American. Whether you’re a liberal or a right-winger you should hate it out of hand. It is the most offensive piece of legislation I have read in years. Which, by the way, is why Lindsey Graham (R-SC) the sleaze that walks like a man, is for it. You just can’t fix stupid. You can, however, prevent it from doing any damage. Call your Senator and tell him or her to reject this bill in its entirety.
I had a fellow grad of my old high school come after me for just these sentiments yesterday on Facebook. Unfortunately for his argument he quoted a portion of the proposed law that was exactly what I have been attacking, a section of language that is so vague that It will allow our over eager law enforcement people to grab up anyone they want regardless of guilt or innocence or unproven involvement
Sure we live in a dangerous world but it is that way because there are people out there who want to take away our freedoms. The question becomes, are we such quivering cowards that we are willing to give away those freedoms just to keep these bad guys from coming after us? Right now we have more than enough tools at our disposal to handle anything that the bad guys can throw at us. What we have to do is use those tools to their best advantage. That means our various agencies cooperating instead of contending. That means using our almost unlimited network of communication and intelligence to do the job for which it was intended. We have the most far reaching intelligence system known to man. Our defense budget is greater than the combined defense budgets of the rest of the nations in the world. If that isn’t enough to get the job done, further eroding our freedoms isn’t going to help. If those appointed to defend the country with the overwhelming tools they have already been given can’t get the job done then rather than taking away more of our already eroded freedoms, we must replace them.
Right now between the armed forces, the intelligence community and Homeland Security we have almost five million people assigned to the defense of the country. If that many people, with the largest financial portion of the national budget can’t protect the nation with the laws they already have then we are wasting a hell of a lot money that could be put to better use.
This proposed legislation is a disgrace to everything we hold dear as a country. IT must be stopped and the people who proposed it must be voted out of office. We don’t need more laws limiting our freedom, we need more competent people protecting it.
the bad guys away, not to be lazy and just get a law changed so that we can grab up everybody in sight violate their freedoms and then say look at us, we got the bad guys. Right no there is no nation on earth that can face us down. All we have to do to keep it that way is pay attention and do the jobs we are said to do.