There they are at the podium...shamelessly pressing the fear button and exploiting the trauma of 9/11; selling us on the virtue of torture, wars of aggression, secret arrests and kangaroo courts; manipulating those who still trust them into accepting the unacceptable and defending the indefensible.
Are these men and women fit to lead America? Are they worthy of the title of President of the United States? Are they suited for our highest office...or are they charlatans unfit for our lowest?
Those who founded this country intentionally limited the power of those in office. They did so knowing that ALL government tends toward tyranny. Those limits (as outlined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights) are the supreme law of the land. NOBODY is above them--not even the President. He, too, must publicly swear to "preserve, protect, and defend" the limits on his power.
"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first."-- Thomas Jefferson
Our great "American Experiment" started 231 years ago. From the threat of having the British Empire crush our nation in its infancy, to the unspeakable vision of Soviet nuclear warheads incinerating every major American city in an hour, we've somehow managed to remain true to our founding principles. Are we to accept those days are gone? Are we to openly embrace the tactics of Evil regimes we've vilified and stood against? Did secret police, torture and mock trials bring safety to Stalinist Russia? Did wars of aggression and unspeakable brutality bring safety to Hitler's Germany? How did the people of Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao Zedong's China do under their nation's "get tough" approach to enemy combatants...
The concept of legitimizing and instituting policies (antithetical to the founding principles of this country) based on "1 in a million" hypothetical scenarios is utterly insane. If these cheap scare tactics become the way in which we determine the limits of government power in our country, Heaven help us all. It's bad enough the proposed policies CANNOT and WILL NOT "keep our nation safe." In implementing them we destroy for ourselves the very essence of what we're supposed to be protecting.
And so our message to you is loud and clear: No, it is NOT "OK." We will not surrender our dignity and the founding principles of our Republic to you or "the terrorists." Either you produce a reasonable foreign and domestic policy that limits our nation's risk, or get out of the way for somebody who can. Based on what you've shown us, you are not fit to lead this nation--you are not fit to lead any nation.
J. Plummer 5.18.07
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