Why do they hate our freedom?
I don't even know where to start on this one.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Tuesday that the possibility of an avian flu pandemic is among the reasons he wants Congress to give him the power to use the nation's military in law enforcement roles in the United States. [emphasis mine]Nor do I know quite what to make of the fact that, as of 2:48 a.m. (Eastern US time) Wednesday, October 5, CNN.com's QuickVote Reader Poll indicates that just over half (54%) of the 35,309 respondents answered "yes" to the question: Should there be a U.S. law enforcement role for the military during domestic emergencies? The disclaimer at the bottom -- about how the "QuickVote is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate" and doesn't represent the opinion of the public at large -- just doesn't reassure me overmuch.
Are 19,009 people just nuts?
What he's talking about here is doing away with, or at least ripping to shreds, a highly excellent federal law enacted in 1878 to limit the US government's ability to use its military for law enforcement types of actions -- to prevent it from imposing a so-called "police state." It's called the Posse Comitatus Act, and it already grants the President the ability to waive the law during certain emergencies and exceptional circumstances. The military is already allowed to provide support and assistance in certain circumstances. Our president is not talking here about utilizing one of the several useful and appropriate exceptions to the law; he's talking about asking Congress to give him the power, essentially, to declare martial law.
And maybe it's just me, but I don't think that he's talking about bringing in the Marines to instruct us about proper handwashing techniques to prevent transmission of disease, or to somehow support the ailing Public Health infrastructure. They're not going to be bringing us chicken soup and ginger ale or fluffing our pillows.
But it's not just me: the CNN article quotes Mr. Gene Healy, a senior editor at the Cato Institute [more about the Cato Institute], and he seems concerned too. In an article posted Sept. 27, Healy notes that in his Sept. 15 post-Katrina TV address (which I guess I must've missed), our President gave the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as a reason to make provisions for "greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces". And then you get the chair of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. John Warner (R-Va) explicitly suggesting the weakening of restrictions on the government's ability to use the military as a police force, and then Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita calling Posse Comitatus "very archaic" and saying it somehow undermines the president's ability to respond to a crisis. "Not so," says Healy:
"The Posse Comitatus Act is no barrier to federal troops providing logistical support during natural disasters. Nor does it prohibit the president from using the army to restore order in extraordinary circumstances--even over the objection of a state governor.Yep.
What it does is set a high bar for the use of federal troops in a policing role. That reflects America’s traditional distrust of using standing armies to enforce order at home, a distrust that’s well-justified."
[PS: I guess I should have read some more stuff before I posted: Magpie is already all over this one, as are the good folks at Effect Measure and I think Susie over at Suburban Guerilla mentioned it earlier, too.
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3 comments:
I wonder if lots of people feel the way I do about this presidency--simply worn out. I feel numbed by the chuzpah of this regime and the general public's not only malaise about it, but seemingly burning desire to march blithely into some dreadful American-esque theocracy.
Maybe it's because I am here in the south and most people around me simply believe "my president, right or wrong," and if one says anthing against Bush, one is an insta-whacko. I feel alone here, and helpless.
If we're lucky, the Dems will regain power in 2008, but then it's a huge pendulum swing the other way. Mistakes will be made, as they always are, then the Republicans will gleefull have their "I told you so"s and back we are again in four years.
All I'm asking for is a little moderation. A little respect for the tenets on which the country is founded. A little consideration for the fact that we aren't the only country in the world. Damn, I guess that's a lot to ask.
Are 19,009 people just nuts?
Yes. And by 'nuts,' I mean 'uninformed,' which leads me to responding to TC Byrd. TC, I'm in the South, too, and I feel your pain. So many of us watch what is happening w/ horror, or w/ our obstreperal lobes failing, and the thing that kills me about it all is that it's just us worrying about it. Happy lemmings off a cliff, these red staters.
My fear is that it will take a catastrophe of biblical proportions to snap these folks out of their "my preznit" stupor, and how sad. Maybe it'll be a flu epidemic where we'll be shown for the umpteenth time how unprepared and how craven this madministration is. Sadly, a million people will have to die before some face the truth.
What a waste. What ignorance. All that can cure it is (civic) education. Those who don't give a hoot about posse comitatus quite obviously don't know this country's, or other countries', history. How do we teach them the REAL meaning of the freedoms on which our country is founded?
Well girls, I'm in the south too. Could we have a goddamn party? I would so totally make out with you both. "American-esque theocracy indeed. I'm not sure the lame-ass Dems nor all the civics classes in the world will help, but it's the best we can do, I guess. Just keep talking and keep up the good fight, eh?
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