I should remind you that President Bush in his oath as president swore “…to the best of [his] ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” To this end, he has failed miserably. As a matter of fact, he has tried to eviscerate the bill of rights, and on that fact alone should be impeached.
It is NEVER acceptable for the government to monitor my calls, to read my mail, to check my bank statements, to snoop on me UNLESS there is reasonable evidence that I am guilty of or about to commit a crime AND that a warrant has been issued by the judicial branch of government. To willingly allow this fundamental right to be abridged is cowardly and shameful. Our founding fathers recognized the critical importance of this right, and placed it squarely in the bill of rights, not in some footnote of the Constitution.
It is criminal to hold indefinitely and to torture American citizens, in violation of the fifth, the sixth, and the eight amendments. This is precisely what our government has done to Jose Padilla. The irony now, as Jack Balkin from Yale Law School points out is that “"You can't believe Padilla when he says we tortured him because he's crazy from all the things we did to him." In December 2003 the 2nd circuit ruled that “"the President lacked inherent constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief to detain American citizens on American soil outside a zone of combat.” Yet he is still in custody and has still not been tried.
If you take the guarantees of civil liberties for granted, what will go next? Will you sit still while the second amendment gets gutted? While you remain silent as the first amendment gets burned to ashes?
It is ONLY when we strictly adhere to the principles of the Constitution and only when we genuinely protect civil liberties, ONLY when we truly treat people justly and fairly, that we maintain legitimacy not only with the American people, but with the world. And it is only then that we fully realize the benefits of democratic governments.
Note: This was originally posted by me on the Staunton News Leader Blogs on 1/6/07.
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2 comments:
Good points on the constitution.
But once we impeach the corst and everyone in congress for doing the same thing, who would be left to impeach Bush?
Jose Padilla is a pretty unsympathetic character. My personal preference is that he should have been shot while trying to escape years ago. (that is still constitutional isn't it?)
Good point about congress. My only hope is that congress get the backbone, not to impeach the president, but to correct the balance of power.
And Jose Padilla is no angel. But his crimes have been completely overshadowed by the government's actions.
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