Do Unto Others…
To quote Evan McMurry, from Mediaite:
“The Lincoln Day Dinner dinner in Des Moines Saturday night, Senator and probable 2016 candidate Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he would have no problem droning potential ISIS recruits, and was so excited to do so he reckoned he might could skip the whole due process part.
Graham was responding to Senator and 2016 rival Rand Paul (R-KY), whose non-interventionist foreign policy he deplores.
Via Politico:
Graham, who has made a habit of trolling the Kentucky senator, also mocked Paul’s focus on civil liberties, picking up on his statement that the federal government should still “call a lawyer” to get a warrant before arresting terrorists instead of illegally spying.
“I’m not going to call a judge,” said Graham. “I’m going to call a drone and kill you.”
As you know from my former blog, I am no fan of the vile group known as ISIS, nor am I a proponent for Al-Qaeda, or for the Saudi Arabian government for its inhumane treatment of dissidents. I do not endorse an authoritarian statehood; I am a staunch believer in a republican government, where I, as a citizen, have rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. I feel it is the primary duty of the government legislation to protect me, and while I may be ambivalent about our country’s continuous involvement in military conflicts, I do support and appreciate the enlisted men and women who have lost and jeopardize their lives daily for my safe being. I am a law-abiding citizen; I pay taxes and vote every election, attempting to make sound, informed decisions.
So when I heard the words of Lindsey Graham’s speech, I was awed, as in astonished and fearful. Killer drones?!! Perhaps there should be an incentive to turn in anyone who seems like a threat, or looks like a terrorist. Maybe a give-away toaster, or a year’s supply of gasoline with every name turned in to a subcommittee investigating, i.e., rendering, the private lives of citizens. What would happen to due process?
I praise Allah, Jesus Christ, Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama), Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Dali Lama, rabbis, the Founding Fathers, and countless others who have devoted their lives to peace, and the betterment of humankind. What if someone decided to turn me in for alleged contacts with a terrorist group, or as a sympathizer? Oh, no that could not happen to me!
Wanna bet? Our country has a recent and shameful history of witch hunting; as in the Salem witch trials of Massachusetts and the McCarthy “Red Scare” and “Lavender Scare” hearings. In both cases, friends ratted out one another, family and strangers. In the Salem Witch Hunts, over three hundred men, women, children and animals were thrown into jail without due process. The nineteen accused never had a chance in the Court of Oyer when tried: some were tortured, one elderly man stoned and the rest hanged.
From the legacy of Joseph McCarthy, (R-Wisconsin 1947-1957), comes the term “McCarthyism, ….. Today the term is used more generally in reference to demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents”(Wikipedia). The resulting actions of McCarthy and the subsequent closed-door hearings, destroyed countless reputations of public and private citizens and ravaged the lives of innocent men and women, and those of another targeted group, homosexuals.
What turns decent human beings into monsters? Fear that is fodder for hysteria, that feeds the monster and justifies mob action. So to get to the presidency, Senator Graham stumps on a platform of fear, making anxiety vibrate with the threat of terrorism. His promise to keep you safe means you will give up your right to due process. Flawed as our judicial system can be, the Boston Marathon terrorist, Tsarnaev, despicable human being that he is, had due process and is sentenced to life in prison without parole. This is because we have the Bill of Rights, and specifically, the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting all, every one of us, due process.
Think twice before you abnegate your Constitutional rights. Once lost, they are hard to win back.
