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unamerican. And, even if it were not true that Col. Wright and Medea Benjamin represent the vast majority of Americans, a whopping 70% of whom oppose this war and want it ended, while George Bush and Dick Cheney, who are even now demanding $50 billion MORE of our tax dollars to keep killing Iraqis until they sign over their oil rights, and to keep war profiteer pockets padded to levels that beggar the imagination, represent less than 25% of Americans, if that (Cheney's approval rating was at 17% last time I looked--about a year ago)--even if these things were not true, and Wright and Benjamin were members of a minority, detaining them at the border, for having expressed their views in peaceful protest, would be unconstitutional, illegal and unamerican.
The fact that they represent MOST Americans--while the criminals who are harassing them represent a small minority--just makes it all the more ironic and outrageous.
That it can happen quietly--that it is a struggle for these patriotic Americans to even be noticed, when their rights are grossly violated--is damned scary. I don't use those words very often--"damned scary"--because there are a whole lot of things that are scary, and that not even our congress members seem to give a fuck about. There is hardly a one of them who can prove that he or she was actually elected. That's scary. We know Bush and Cheney weren't. Yet they command our lives and our treasure. And there are a whole lot of real scary laws and unprecedented precedents that could, at any time, be used to bring the fascist boot down on all of us. I don't think it's useful to tell people, "Be afraid." What they need to know is what to DO--based on good, open-eyed analysis of our government.
And there ARE things we can do, right now, that will materially affect our situation, primary among them, working to restore TRANSPARENT vote counting, in state/local venues (where ordinary people still have some potential influence). Transparent vote counting is the bottom line of democracy. Without it, change is not possible. With it, reform can begin occurring very fast. We have a window of opportunity to get this done, I'd say to about 2012. If we have not restored transparent vote counting by then, American democracy will be over, and we will have to reckon with ALL of us being caged in--on "no fly" lists--with no rights, with no recourse, subject to the whims of a fascist government. And I don't think it makes much difference which of the would-be emperors gets anointed by our global corporate predators rulers as "president." None of the frontrunners have disavowed the unbelievable and unprecedented fascist powers that Bush/Cheney have pioneered. Any of them are potential Hitler IIs. You might trust one or another more, but should your right not to be detained without due cause, not to be held without charge for an indefinite period, not to be spied upon and not to be tortured, be a matter of "trust"?
That was the whole point of the American Revolution, it seems to me. If your rights depend on "trust," you WILL lose them. NO ONE can "trusted" not to abuse monarchic power. The rule of laws, not men. That was why so many fought so hard, why so many died, why so many pledged their lives and treasure--to establish a government in which our rights are INHERENT, and and are guaranteed by law, not by individuals who may be President or may be a Homeland Security director, or may be a Blackwater mercenary, or may be the local highway patrol. Enshrined in plainspoken, unambiguous language, as the law of the land.
The right of free speech.
The right not have state-imposed religion.
The right to be secure in our persons and our homes from illegal search and seizure.
The right to know the charges against us, spoken in open court, if we are arrested (habeas corpus).
The right to a speedy and public trial.
The Bush Junta, and complicit Congresses, including the present one, have violated all of these rock-bottom provisions of the Constitution. And hardly a one of them can prove that they were actually elected. And it seems to me that the fact that virtually none of them can prove that they were elected is intimately connected to their view of our rights, to their unconstitutional laws, and to their violations of their oaths of office. What do they care about us or our Constitution if they are no longer beholden to us for their power, but are now beholden to rightwing Bushite electronic voting corporations and their 'TRADE SECRET' vote 'counting' code?
To me, that's the scariest thing of all. But I view the matter very practically--until such time as we no longer have the power or influence to change it. Until then, there IS something we can do.
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