December 22, 2005
If they aren't going to follow the law, then why are we so worried about the law?
The Senate and the House are struggling over a compromise in the extension of the Patriot Act. What concerns me is that in light of the domestic spying scandal we're still worried about making a fair law.
The situation in our country has now publicly become one in which the Executive branch has declared war on a nebulous entity with no fronts, no battles, and no obvious conditions for "victory". On top of this the administration uses this "war" as justification for actions which are outside the purview of law.
It seems apparent that the Bush administration will do as it feels it should regardless of the legality of its actions or the context of those actions with regards to civil liberties. The "We have to fight terrorists!" battle cry has been ringing more and more hollow for years since 9/11 and now it seems to have been filled with nothing more than partisan agendas and blatantly illegal acts.
If the Bush administration is willing to go so far outside the law to achieve its own desires then why should we hope that they will act inside the law formed by the modified Patriot Act when/if it passes the Congress? What evidence do we have that the Bush administration gives one good god damn about the legality of its actions? I sincerely doubt that the status of the Patriot Act will in any way change the thought processes or actions of our current Executive Branch.
Domestic spying without judicial oversight is in direct violation of the Constitution and a great many other pieces of American legislation. The fact that Bush has the unmitigated gall to claim that his actions were taken legally is an affront to democracy and patriotic Americans throughout the nation. The further fact that he has never deigned to state exactly how his actions were legally supportable adds credence to this type of pessimism and makes any further protestations of legality hollow by default.
It saddens me that not only do we live in a country where the President can get away with such actions, but that we live in a country where the President can get away with such actions without a hint of impeachment where previously a President was nearly impeached for getting a blow job and lying about it. What the hell America? What the hell?
Posted by morr at 05:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack