Impeachment and Our Right to Privacy

[babylonsister]

Impeachment and Our Right to Privacy
Submitted by Chip on Sat, 2007-09-22 12:29. Activism | General Discussion | Impeachment

Impeachment and Our Right to Privacy
by CIndyCasella | DailyKos.com

Impeachment is the best way we can prevent a war with Iran. It is the only way to save our Constitution from becoming just a piece of paper, as George W. calls it, instead of the guarantor of our freedoms and American way of life. Impeachment isn't a prerogative, it's mandatory. Impeachment is unequivocal. Impeachment is the right thing to do. Why then, is the propaganda machine going full tilt against the I-word? No impeachment op-eds. No impeachment letters published. Why have people flip flopped about impeachment, who backed it before? Why was it taken off the table?

The answer may lie in the erosion of one of the inalienable rights that impeachment would serve to protect, specifically, the right to privacy.

Why has impeachment been cleared off the table? They let everyone talk about the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction, because almost everyone knows that. They print our letters insisting that our soldiers come home, because they know that that debate can go on and on and permit them to procrastinate withdrawal with arguments about having to fix the Iraq that they broke and predictions of bloodbaths. They let us ardently chase our tails in public, giving us the false sense that we still have freedom of speech, but they will not allow us the latitude to discuss the I-word.

Impeachment could bring their bloody game to a crashing halt. It has teeth. It isn't an endless argument about an endless war, it is a process that could put the brakes on this runaway fright train and call them to account. There is no wiggle room in impeachment. That is why they are taking impeachment very seriously and doing all that is necessary to shut us up.

Most people or someone they dearly love have a skeleton in their closet, something they don't want anyone else to know about. Unfortunately, our phones, e-mails, etc. are no longer secure and have been compromised for longer than we think. Anything we've written or said can and will be used against us. In other words, if one has a skeleton in their closet, it is also hanging in an armoire in an undisclosed location, to be used as leverage if the need arises.

This may be why people, who used to be advocating for impeachment, are mysteriously backing down. They could be caught between a rock and a hard place. They could continue to work to impeach Bush/Cheney, but if they do, they or someone they dearly love could be completely disgraced and lose their position in life. Anyone who dares to run for office or be in a position of prominence must be squeaky clean. They can not give in to temptation, and they must deliver themselves from evil.

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http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/27042

[TahitiNut]

1. "Privacy" is the lynch-pin upon which Roe v. Wade was decided.

Make no mistake: The GOP is waging an all-out war on the 'right to privacy" ... seeing ONLY the entitlement of privacy inherent in owning property. There's is almost nothing more private than sexual relations and reproduction.

Many on the middle=right quibble with Roe v. Wade due to the basis upon which it was decided: the inferential right to privacy inherent in the enumerated Bill of Rights. They claim to prefer 'property' as the basis: the idea that a person owns their body. But 'ownership' is an entitlement, not a right. It's been conflated with 'personal possessions' which has a distinction only if it itself is grounded in privacy and not ownership.

Folks must assiduously comprehend the implications: if it's 'ownership' then pregnancy can be treated like a lien and a woman's autonomy would then be eradicated.

As my uncle (may he R.I.P) often said, "the Republicans are the party of property and the Democrats are the party of people." There's an immense amount of wisdom in that .. especially when examined against the stances taken and their rationalizations.

Those who blithely dismiss impeachment do more harm to the cause of people and our right to privacy than they seem to even slightly comprehend.

[babylonsister]

2. That last sentence is a keeper! I just don't understand why the

GOP is so ready to give up their rights. Makes no sense to me.