A majority of my blogs are political so without further stalling.
It is a sad day when the President of the United States through Congress can suspend habeas corpus. What is habeas corpus you ask? "A writ of habeas corpus is a court order addressed to a prison official (or other custodian) ordering that a detainee be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that person is imprisoned lawfully and whether or not he or she should be released from custody." (This is quoted from Wikipedia) Basically it says that a person in prison can challenge the lawfulness of their imprisonment. The President has signed into law the Military Commissions Act. The act basically states that the President of the United States has the power to declare a person an enemy combatant. This means they have no rights under law and they can be jailed indefinately. It also means that the President of the United States has authority previously given to order the torture of said person if he chooses. It also means that the prisoner does not have the capability to challenge their imprisonment and also allows for heresay and top secret information (which is not made available to the defense) as evidence. The scariest thing of all is this new law gives the President sole authority to declare anyone to be an unlawful enemy combatant. This includes our own citizens. What is to stop him from declaring political foes as enemy combatants? What is to stop him from declaring journalists or even everyday people from being jailed without the possibility of release or trial? Are we to just except his word and good will? Let's say he makes no mistakes and this is not misused. How do we know if some President in the future will be as forthright? This goes directly into the next topic I wish to discuss.
Fascism
I have mentioned previously that the United States, under the direction of President Bush, is in danger of becoming a fascist nation. I think I need to explain what is fascism so that everyone may understand what I am talking about. (As quoted from Wikipedia)
A recent definition is that by former Columbia University Professor Robert O. Paxton:
· "Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline (Republicans view of moral values), humiliation, or victim-hood (9-11) and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion. (Iraq War)"
Paxton further defines fascism's essence as:
· "1. a sense of overwhelming crisis beyond reach of traditional solutions; 2. belief one's group is the victim, justifying any action without legal or moral limits (See above); 3. need for authority by a natural leader above the law, relying on the superiority of his instincts (Passage of Presidental order declaring anyone detained as terrorists as enemy combatants, Military Commissions Act, Domestic Wiretapping, etc); 4. right of the chosen people to dominate others without legal or moral restraint (Authorizing torture); 5. fear of foreign `contamination. (Fear of illegal immigrants)"
What is seperating of us from what Germany became in the late 1930's is now less and less. When will people wake up and realize that what makes the United States great is our freedoms? That by limiting those freedoms to anyone, including terrorists, harms what this country stands for. This President or perhaps we should start refering to him as dictator (President Bush has actually been quoted as saying a dictatorship would be easier), is smart in not taking away all of our freedoms at once. They instead chip away at them, one by one, in the name of national security under the guise of the war on terror. What is sad is most people do not even seem to realize this and even worse don't seem to care enough to do anything? Where are the protestors? Where are the people wondering what happened to their free speech? Oh, right, they are all in prison, declared enemy combatants never to be heard from again. A sad day….
