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Originally Posted by mburbank
I don't doubt that in the least, but here's my problem with it. The envelope of evil extends as far beyond the legitimate as the powerful can reach. W et al are trying to move the line of legal legitimacy WAY forward to cover warantless spying, torture, detention without charge, disapearance. If they succeed in making thse things, (which I'm sure they've done before in countless administrations) solid, legal, unasailable ground to stand on, think how much further into the darkness their reach would extend.
Nixon said he was not a crook. Clinton sad he did not have sex with that woman. When it became crystal clear they'd lied, Nixon had to leave and Clinton got impeached. Bush says "I did it, I'm going to keep doing it, and I can do whatever I want". That HAS to be challenged. It changes the game completely. Until now it has been 'I can do whatever I want until I get caught'. That makes Presidents a whole lot more circumspect than 'I can do whatever I want.'
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The fact is that whether or not most people understand ALL, much less any, branches of our government routinely abuse the powers entrusted to them, that's what they do. If Dubya chooses to avoid impeachment by doing it out in the open, I guess I just have to think of that as transparency. It's the same kind of cantilevered logic that helps me like the Medicare Rx entitlement or Illegal Immigrant Amnesty... instead of drowning government in a bathtub, let's just pull out the stops and see just how big and dangerous this sucker can get before it reaches critical mass. Will it implode or explode? Fizzle out or pop?
Those that are not willing to protect their rights lose them. Most Americans could give a rat's ass that TeamBush© has been paring down what it means to be an American citizen since Jose Padilla. Nobody cared then, and they still don't. Nobody cared about Janet Reno. Nobody listened to Bush41's New World Order speech or the 1000 points of light and got a little sick and shivery. We have amply proven that we do not care to protect our rights. The funny thing is: we still have most of them, almost as if on loan from a government to which we've already surrendered them.
Inalienable was a bad choice of wording. Sounds nice, but something more tenuous might have painted a more accurate picture.
But look at me! Having this discussion with a died in the wool Taxachussetts Pinko! All good things emanate from government, right? It's our government that makes us the greatest country evar! If only we could just somehow get the right people to run our lives, everything would be just hunky-dory and all the trains would run on time.
To me, gubbermint is as gubbermnt does. What you see is what you get. It is simultaneously the most dangerous and inefficient machine ever devised by man and the largest criminal enterprise on Earth. As you said, the Constitution was all about using it as sparingly as possible... well, that's not exactly how you said it... But what else is our government if not us using our elected representatives to do stuff for us?
The constitution is ALL ABOUT removing any occasion to trust politicians. The three branches are supposed to watch each other like rabid dogs equally distanced from enough food for one of them... ~mburbank
So, we shouldn't trust politicians except for when we are supposed to trust them to watch each other. It's just amazing that a plan that cleverly engineered broke down! Wait a minnit... Maybe it was supposed to be US watching them!
Step over the line, max... Join me on the dark, libertarian side... You know you want to. All the cool kids are doin it.
Hybrid Mode
