The following got published as a letter to the editor in the Savage Pacer.
As the bumper sticker says, “If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention.†It’s time for everyone to start paying close attention to the power grab being made by the Bush administration – and to be very concerned.
The most recent threat to our freedom was last Friday’s passing of the so-called Military Commissions Act. This bill was ostensibly designed to allow greater latitude in prosecuting the “War on Terror.â€
What it really does is give unchecked power to the president. Under this bill, the president can indefinitely detain anyone he deems to have engaged in “hostilities†against the United States – and that includes any U.S. citizen. The bill allows the use of torture to extract confessions, keeps the courts from challenging the president’s actions, and (conveniently) gives retroactive immunity to any U.S. officials who may have been involved in torturing detainees during the latest Iraq war. It also lets the president interpret the Geneva Convention any way he sees fit. It makes the president judge, jury and executioner … and it’s wrong.
Our country was founded by persecuted people fleeing a monarchy. The founders of the United States instituted a three-branch system of government specifically to provide a balance of power. They knew, from personal experience, that no one person or branch should be trusted with complete control.
History is littered with examples of power-mad dictators and the resulting oppression of their people. We don’t need to be the next statistic.The Bush administration has a veritable laundry list of transgressions: illegally launching a war without ever going to Congress to have war declared, the use of torture and complete disregard for the Geneva Convention, illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens and, this week, evidence that both John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales (the two U.S. Attorney Generals under Bush), along with Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and others, covered up the predatory sexual behavior of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to protect their political party. This all stems from an attitude that they are above the law. No one is above the law.
While this wrongdoing has taken place because of one political party – the Republicans – this is not a partisan message. It’s a call to wake up and see what’s really going on in this country. It’s a call to get involved with your government. It’s a call to ask yourself what the United States stands for: always doing the right thing, or sacrificing our principles when convenient. “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.†– Plato