This is how police states begin. Few cared when the Patriot Act hurriedly became law after 9/11. Few cared when we found out the Bush administration spied on Americans and never even bothered to get court warrants. Few cared as more and more government information became classified. As long as we're protected and safe from those evil terrorists, we'll happily surrender our rights.
The Republicans claim this law needed to be enacted quickly so this nation can effectively fight the war on terror. It is a lie. The hundreds of prisoners in Guantanamo and other prisons around the world will continue to be held until the Bush administration figures out a way to handle their cases that passed legal muster. There is no need to rush.
But the Republicans wanted to rush. They wanted to have a law they could use against Democrats in the November mid-term elections. And too many Democrats were afraid of the political attacks that would come if they voted against this bill.
The election season is the worst time to be considering matters of constitutional and international law. The fears that this issue will be politicized by President Bush and the Republican Party are well justified. But this law is something that cuts to the very heart of who we are as a nation. Do we allow the president to not only flout the law, but rewrite it to suit his needs? Or are we still a functioning constitutional democracy where Congress enacts the laws, the president enforces them and the courts interpret them?
The federal courts might overturn this law, but even this is questionable. If a detainee under this legislation no longer has the right to a fair trial or to hear the evidence against him, how can he bring a legal challenge to court? This legislation even contains restrictions on judicial review of its provisions.
President Bush will talk about how the provisions it contains will make us safer. That is a lie. All it will do is tell the world that for all of his glittering rhetoric of spreading freedom and democracy around the globe, the United States really stands for repression and the arbitrary abuse of power.
The American ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit or happiness, of equal protection under the law, of having the freedom to say, write, think and worship as we please, of being secure in our homes and being free from illegal searches and seizures - all these are now under attack.
Those of us left who still care need to start waking up the rest of our countrymen, while there's still some time left.
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