Nothing Left to Hate
As I write this, the Senate is debating a bill that will give the president essentially carte blanche to designate any person in this world, resident aliens or foreigners, citizens of this country, you or me even as an "Enemy Combatant" and throw them into prison without trial, right of appeal or access to legal counsel. The same bill codifies the administration's ability to engage in activity, as the New York Times puts it, "normal people consider torture", and to interpret the Geneva Conventions as he sees fit.
I watched this morning on C-Span as senators voted down Senator Spector's amendment that would remove the elimination of Habeas Corpas, or the right of appeal, from the bill on what was more or less a party line vote. I had to leave for work before I could hear "debate" on other amendments, but I suspect that they will all be voted down and the bill will pass as written by the administration.
All of this is being done in our names, by our representatives with little or no debate on a time schedule demanded by political expedience. The Republicans, who fear losing control of one or both houses of Congress in the upcoming election, want to put the Democrats on record on voting against this bill. They seem to think voting against this bill will allow them to say that Democrats are soft on terrorism, that they don't want to give the administration all the powers necessary to prosecute this war. Democrats must believe this, because they are not putting up much of a fight. It's disgusting to me that we live in a political climate where the majority party thinks that Americans will support any bill or any person who votes for a bill that legitimizes torture. I thought we were a "Christian Nation". But that seems to be the case. Sadly, our fears have trumped our values.
If any bill should be fillibustered, it should be this one. This bill is unconstitional on its face. If it ever challenged in a federal court, it will be defeated. Everyone knows that. More than that this bill will do nothing to protect us from harm. It only protects the president and his cronies from litigation retroactively giving them cover for torture already administered and false imprisonment already committed. It will erode our moral authority to project our values and our system of government to the rest of the world. It will severely hinder our ability to win hearts and minds which is key to our ability to eliminate the threats we now face.
That said, maybe I'm missing the point. The president has said repeatedly that the terrorists hate us for "our freedoms". When we have no freedoms left there will be nothing left to hate and the trouble will be over. QED.
