In a scathing commentary on George W. Bush’s recent signing of the Military Commissions Act, Keith takes the president to task, comparing him and this act to earlier presidents and similar actions that gave them the authority to ignore and abuse the constitutional rights of our citizens:
- John Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts, in which hundreds of American newspaper editors were jailed for speaking out against the government.
- Woodrow Wilson’s Espionage Act, in which thousands of pacifists were jailed for speaking out against the government.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, in which over a hundred thousand Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps, simply by virtue of their ancestry
With a presidential administration that is more secretive, less truthful and more vindictive than any other in history, I share Keith’s concern that anyone, including me, could be arbitrarily labeled an "unlawful combatant" and be shipped off somewhere, anywhere.
It’s never been clear to me whether the so-called terrorists want to do away with the American way of life (or simply stop our unwelcome interventions in their ways — and places — of life), but it’s increasingly clear that this administration is doing away with the very constitutional liberties that underly our way of life … liberties George W. Bush swore an oath to uphold.
As Keith notes:
"One of the terrorists who planned the September 11 attacks," you told us yesterday, "said he hoped the attacks would be the beginning of the end of America."
Habeas corpus: gone. The Geneva Conventions: optional. The moral force we shined outwards to the world as an eternal beacon, and inwards to ourselves as an eternal protection: snuffed out. These things you have done, Mr. Bush, they would constitute the beginning of the end of America.
Big Brother is watching, and he is happy.