Outrage of the day. The lights are going out all over America. The House and Senate have passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, Sections 1031, 1032 and 1034 of which allow the arrest of U.S. citizens by the armed forces, without laying charges, without evidence or legal representation, with indefinite detention. The Senate passed it 93 to 7 as S. 1867art-link-symbol-tiny-grey-arrow-only.gif. The House passed it 283 to 136 as H.R.1540art-link-symbol-tiny-grey-arrow-only.gif. Those who pose as our representatives have committed yet another egregious act of betrayal, and as is becoming routine, the Senate did it largely behind closed doors. Mr. Altenhofel summarizes it this way:
No due process or evidence required—just a unilateral accusation that you may be involved in or supporting terrorism. Part of the DOJ/FBI criteria for being a terrorist is having at least one of the following traits: large amounts of ammunition, more than a week’s worth of food, a finger that is damaged or missing, etc. Brian Altenhofel, altenhofel.com/blog
These are the same powers Beria’s NKVD and Himmler’s Gestapo employed. Both relied on anonymous tips and extrajudicial proceedings—no evidence, no trial, no accountability, the populace was merely violated and terrorized as a sort of perpetual preemptive strike. Now the entirety of America is declared to be a wartime battlefield and the enemy has been identified. Even if we were to believe DC’s intentions are honorable, or that the stated bounds will respected, or that there are no secret provisions, or that state and local police won’t be federalized outright—even if we believed all this, it’s an open-ended enabling act without so much as a sunset clause. And there’s another dimension, a truly malignant dimension, one which alarms every student of history, one which humiliates every parent and every veteran, perhaps intentionally:
This would violate not only the spirit of the post-Reconstruction act limiting the use of the armed forces for domestic law enforcement but also our trust with service members, who enlist believing that they will never be asked to turn their weapons on fellow Americans. US Marine Generals (Retired) Krulak and Hoar, nytimes.com
DC should pause in their dismantling of the Constitution long enough to consider, it protects us equally from each other, governance and governed. One part can’t be obviated without deligitimizing the entirety of it. Put another way, just because the hole is in the back of the boat doesn’t mean the front won’t sink with it. Should DC believe itself comfortably and decisively distanced from the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, to which the Consitution is pendant, plainly put the obligation of free men. Incarceration without warrant or redress is kidnapping, no light and transient cause. We’re a ways yet from appointing new guardians of liberty, and may it remain so, but with state sanctioned vigilantism and summary justice in the offing the notion seems less remote. DC should have a care, they’ve not yet seen a genuine civil rights movement.
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. Ayn Rand
The Grey Enigma 