Just Because You're Paranoid

Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you. -Nirvana

So the democrats won. I was pleasantly surprised, but I can't summon a whole lot of enthusiasm.

The damage has been done.

We have created so much chaos in Iraq that we cannot pull out without destabilizing the middle east. Every state in the region will be taking sides in the sectarian civil war there, and the likely outcome will be a new dictator, as bad as or worse than Saddam.

We have a massive national debt. Our military has been privatized. Environmental protections have been gutted.

Most disturbingly, President Bush now has the power to declare anyone, anywhere, an enemy combatant. If you are declared an enemy combatant, you can be detained indefinitely without being charged, without access to a lawyer, tortured, perhaps 'rendered' to a country where you will be disappeared.

Bush has also seized control of the national guard. Normally the guard remains under control of the states.

There is, buried deep down in Title V, Subtitle B, Part II, Section 525(a) of the JWDAA, a coup. The Bush Administration has quietly stolen the National Guard away from the states.

Here's the relevant section of Public Law 109-364:

"The [military] Secretary [of the Army, Navy or Air Force] concerned may order a member of a reserve component under the Secretary's jurisdiction to active duty...The training or duty ordered to be performed...may include...support of operations or missions undertaken by the member's unit at the request of the President or Secretary of Defense."

The National Guard, used to maintain order during natural disasters and civil disturbances and the sole vehicle available under U.S. law to enforce a declaration of martial law, has previously been controlled by state governors. They have now been stripped of that control. Thanks to the JWDAA, Bush or Rumsfeld can now deploy National Guardsmen in American cities without obtaining permission from state governors.

Section 526 of the Warner Act goes further still. It states that the "Governor of a State...with the consent of the [military] Secretary concerned, may order a member of the National Guard to perform Active Guard and Reserve duty..." The key word is "may." A governor can no longer deploy the Guard in his or her state without first getting Rumsfeld's permission.

The quote above is from Our Long National Nightmare Has Just Begun, by Ted Rall.

This Democratic Congress will likely put a significant damper on Imperator Bush's worst imperial abuses. But that is not enough. The president must be stripped of these new privileges. Even if Bush doesn't use the new powers, some president will. Don't believe me?

Those of you who hate Clinton, imagine what he would have done with those powers. Bush haters, imagine what Bush would have done immediately after September 11th if he'd had those powers at the time.

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Ben Franklin

Tags:

• election
• Bush
• MCA
• JWDAA
• president
• congress
• freedom