Watching the Burmese army crush the protests of Budhist monks made me sad, for my own country. Rather than pass legislation to restore our Constitution, Congress has shamed itself.
Our country has legalized torture, disappearances and, given the secrecy, we must assume extra-judicial executions as well. President Bush has admitted committing crimes: tapping citizens’ phones and computers. The President has secretly declassified information for the sole purpose of legalizing acts which would have otherwise subjected the Vice President, and others, to prosecution. The right of habeas corpus, protecting all in the English speaking world since King John signed the Magna Carta, in 1215, was surrendered by the Military Commissions Act of 2006. In August, Congress passed legislation, over a weekend, and in fear, that authorized even more phone tapping and email snooping on Americans.
A few months ago, when Sen. Feingold, introduced a motion of censure on the President and Vice President, Harry Reid, the Democrats’ leader, said the Senate had more important business. The Senate demonstrated their idea of importance last September by voting to condemn a newspaper ad, the facts of which were not in dispute, only its tactless headline, concerning a general. We are told that the Constitution cannot be restored, and the war not stopped, because they need a super majority of 60%. This is false. Legislation only needs 51% to pass. The argument then becomes that it takes 60% to overcome a veto or a filibuster. So what? Let them filibuster. What could be more important to debate at length, than our constitutional liberties? In Burma, the people lost, but their defenders, barefoot monks, stood up to guns and soldiers. In Washington, the Democrats couldn’t even stand up to a filibuster.
No comments:
Post a Comment