…that we live in a country where it is necessary to draft legislation to prevent the government from killing you without due process.
H.R. 6010 [1], introduced by Dennis Kucinich, would prohibit anyone (including the President!) from the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen. It includes this reminder of just how far we’ve come from our foundational principles:
[2]Sec. 2. (1): due process of law is a fundamental principle in the United States Constitution, the United States has a commitment to the principles included in the Bill of Rights, and no United States citizen, regardless of location, can be ‘deprived of life, liberty, property, without due process of law’, as stated in Article XIV of the Constitution
But that was back when the Constitution actually meant something, before we had to throw all those pesky rights away in the name of the “War on Terror”. I should get over my insistence that we stick to an outdated thing like the Constitution. After all, as President George W. Bush reportedly opined [3], “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!” There appears to be some debate over the veracity of that quotation [4], but I’m including it here on the basis that Bush acted as if the quotation were true, regardless of whether he ever actually said those exact words.
And there can no longer be any doubt that the Constitution is outdated. Let’s review a couple of the rights which were formerly guaranteed to people in America:
- Freedom of assembly and freedom to speak your mind? Only in designated “first amendment cages” (oops, I meant “free-speech zones [5]“). See here [6]also.
- Freedom of the press? What’s that worth when the media only reports the government’s perspective [7]? See here [8], here [9] and here [10] also. The US media is the 24th most free in the world [11] (and dropping). And see the CIA’s plans to manipulate public opinion to support the war in Afghanistan in a report “Why counting on apathy may not be enough [12]“.
- Right to privacy [13]? No way, terrorist! See also here [14], here [15], here [16], and here [17]. (Oh, the last link is my favorite! Judge Walker says “a citizen may not gain standing by claiming a right to have the government follow the law.” Any questions?
- Unreasonable search and seizure? No such thing [18], according to the government. See also here [19].
- Right to a speedy trial? Gone [20]. See also here [21].
- Prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment? Just one word here: TORTURE [22]. See also here [23], here [24], here [25], and here [26]
And according to this brochure from the FBI [27] (p.1 [28]), something like making “numerous references to US constitution” is a tip that you may be dealing with a “domestic terrorist”. Apparently, only right-wing extremists style themselves as “‘defenders’ of US Constitution against federal government”. Clearly, defending the Constitution makes them terrorists– the federal government would never do anything unconstitutional, would they? Like, for example, killing American citizens without due process? Nah, they would only kill terrorists that way…. uh-oh. See how we come full-circle? Questioning the right of the government to do whatever it likes (including kill you), makes you a terrorist. And terrorists are eligible to be killed, with no oversight, no questions asked.
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