Executive
The rule of law controls power. Any government given unlimited power will abuse it, and that includes our government. Bush’s disrespect for the Constitution and Bill of Rights is deeply troubling to of Americans in both political parties. Most recently, we learned that he had approved eavesdropping on citizens and claims a unilateral right to continue without regard for established law.
In the name of protecting our nation, Bush has assumed the power to imprison any American citizen that he determines to be a threat. Since, he can’t go to a court with information gathered by an illegal wire tap, he declares the citizen an enemy combatant and sends him to a military brig. This has been done without an arrest warrant, without notifying them of the charges filed against them, without a lawyer and without informing their families.
Furthermore, Bush maintains that he has the authority to have individuals kidnapped in foreign countries and have them deliver for imprisonment and interrogation to regimes that are infamous for cruel torture techniques. These practices violate the Geneva Conventions and the International Convention Against Torture, not to mention our own laws against torture. If Bush has authority to eavesdrop, imprison citizens, kidnap and torture, then what can’t he do?
Normal safeguards to contain this unprecedented expansion of executive power have failed. This failure is due in part to the fact that the Bush regime has followed a determined strategy of withholding information, appearing to yield but then refusing to do so, which frustrates the efforts of the legislative and judicial branches to restore a constitutional balance.
Bush’s unprecedented assertion of unilateral power has put our civil liberties at risk. The risk to our country’s representative democracy is far greater than acknowledged by most politicians. These claims of unilateral authority of the executive branch of government is a step toward totalitarianism and must be corrected immediately.
In the name of protecting our nation, Bush has assumed the power to imprison any American citizen that he determines to be a threat. Since, he can’t go to a court with information gathered by an illegal wire tap, he declares the citizen an enemy combatant and sends him to a military brig. This has been done without an arrest warrant, without notifying them of the charges filed against them, without a lawyer and without informing their families.
Furthermore, Bush maintains that he has the authority to have individuals kidnapped in foreign countries and have them deliver for imprisonment and interrogation to regimes that are infamous for cruel torture techniques. These practices violate the Geneva Conventions and the International Convention Against Torture, not to mention our own laws against torture. If Bush has authority to eavesdrop, imprison citizens, kidnap and torture, then what can’t he do?
Normal safeguards to contain this unprecedented expansion of executive power have failed. This failure is due in part to the fact that the Bush regime has followed a determined strategy of withholding information, appearing to yield but then refusing to do so, which frustrates the efforts of the legislative and judicial branches to restore a constitutional balance.
Bush’s unprecedented assertion of unilateral power has put our civil liberties at risk. The risk to our country’s representative democracy is far greater than acknowledged by most politicians. These claims of unilateral authority of the executive branch of government is a step toward totalitarianism and must be corrected immediately.
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