A shameful legacy for America....

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

- Benjamin Franklin

Perhaps lost in the shuffle of the holiday season was a very shady act by President Obama, who signed a controversial bill (Defense Authorization Bill) into law that, in effect, eliminate the long treasured and honored right of habeas corpus. This means that individuals can be arrested and held indefinitely without the right to trial. Benjamin Franklin and many others among the Founding Fathers knew just how important this right is, and after fighting a devastating war against tremendous odds, made sure to secure this right for the young, fledgling republic. Indeed it was a right that remained in the books, a limit to governmentpower that was vigorously defended – at least, until now.

That's right. We made it through the American Revolution and founded a nation that, allegedly, was a democracy, and which secured basic individual liberties - and this was one of the fundamental rights to be established. It made it through the early tests in the nation's history, secured with the Bill of Rights that were hardly automatic or without opposition. It made it through many wars and crises that truly seemed to tear at the very fabric of the nation, including the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the anti-Communist hysteria of the Cold War, and even after the September 11^th attacks, when President Bush assaulted civil liberties and claimed Americans perhaps enjoyed too much freedom.

But it did not make it through 2011, being signed into law in the waning hours of the calendar year. These rights did not survive the Obama Administration. You see, Obama was opposed to this bill, allegedly, anyway. He specifically was opposed to sections 1031 & 1032 of the bill, that in effect allows the President – this President – to arrest and hold people indefinitely without trial.It is a clear violation of the tradition, to say nothing of the spirit, of the government's limitations to impose on this right. Not surprising that it comes at a time when our rights, and even our democracy, are threatened every day. This also goes to show that the differences between the Democrats and the Republicans, the blue and the red parties, are so blurred as to almost mesh together. It seems we have finally moved to a one party state, where the differences are hyped up as a smokescreen to hide just how similar the two parties are in actions and mentality. The differences seem more and more symbolic, like some myth that we are supposed to subscribe to, all the while knowing full well that the reality is something entirely different.

We used to have a democracy, where individual liberties were respected, if often grudgingly, by governments. Were there abuses, even outright failures? You bet. But through the course of time, the general direction was towards improving what imperfections existed. It took time, to be sure. But rights were extended, so that it did not merely apply to white men who owned property. It was extended to women, to minorities. It began to be applied more generally to people who, otherwise, might not have been able to fend for themselves. Popular or not has nothing to do with it. A society can be tyrannical, after all. These liberties were secured to protect people, even unpopular people, from being persecuted. For many, many years, even centuries, the general direction the country was going in seemed good. We were making improvements, expanding these liberties, while the nation seemed to flourish.

No longer. Is it any wonder that, with all of these threats to our principles and liberties, that the state of the country has never seemed lower, at least in modern times. People seem generally, and genuinely, pessimistic. They do not believe the country, or even the world, is going in the right direction. It is more than the economy, too, although I suppose that is a part of it. It just seems to many that this nation, and many others, apparently, are hanging on, trying to get by one crisis after another. Terrorism. Global recession. The expanding population and diminishing natural resources. Pollution and global warming. The increased threat of war, and the higher stakes as the weapons grow more and more deadly. Is it any wonder, for that matter, that the attention towards apocalyptic visions for the future has also mushroomed? Everything seems to be grounds for panic, for people to go crazy and lose their heads. When that happens, times can become dangerous. What we need is a more balanced approach, to not lose our heads.

Instead, what we have gotten are usually knee jerk reactions to this general sense of insecurity. People have a short term memory, too. George W. Bush, who was not legitimately elected in the first place in 2000, began to systematically target the freedoms of Americans following the September 11^th attacks. He started a war in iraq against the world's wishes, indirectly insinuating terororism and September 11^th as grounds for justification for an unustified attack, claiming the need for “regime change” - something that he had subscribed to as a policy towards Iraq well before even the September 11^th attacks. He tried to propose measures to limit American rights, including amendments that would have become the first such amendments in the greater part of a century to actually limit American rights. Indeed, we entered the Bush Administration as a respected democracy and superpower with a strong economy and standing in the world. When the Bush Administration finally left office, we were hated like never before by many the world over, having been caught in the lie of falsifying reasons for a war that had obviously been poorly planned and executed, and which had clearly been utilized by transparently corrupt and greedy corporations for short term profits. Yes, that Administration had been identified with corruption, with failure and incompetence, with a swaggering arrogance in the face of epic failures.

The election of Obama seemed to reinvigorate the nation, and change was in the air. At least, that was how it seemed in November of 2008. Bush was unpopular, regularly having low approval ratings in the higher 20's and lower 30's, and Obama's convincing victory seemed to confirm not only his wide mandate, but also confirmed a clear rejection of George W. Bush and his policies. It seemed to many that the Bush years had been some abberation, and that Obama's election to the highest office in the land was a triumph, a restoration of what the country could be, at it's best.

All of that is gone now. Bush's approval ratings in his post Presidency are up, evne having surpassed at times the low and lowering approval ratings of Obama himself. I see images of Bush's smiling face with the words “Miss Me Yet?” next to him, and these are not seen as a joke or mockery. It is the way an increasing number of people feel.

I wonder if people would still feel that way if we actually had parties that were truly opposed to each other in their approach towards policies, instead of paying much more attention to lip service and posturing? Crazy thought, but what if a party, - let us say, the Democrats – actually fought to safeguard these rights and liberties that were so relentlessly under attack during the Bush Administration? What if the Obama Adminsitration worked every bit as tirelessly and uncompromisingly in safeguaring our liberties, as Bush had in trying to reduce or eliminate them? After all, these are our liberties, stretching back centuries, literally. But they are slowly but surely eroding, sometimes even disappearing, as we watch the government pull it's magical disappearing act. What's worse is that nobody seems to care. The short term memory that is becoming an increasing problem for the country has apparently allowed us not to place much value in our own institutions and principles.

Indeed, I do not know why the change of heart on Obama's end. Maybe it was some shady backdoor deal in a smoky room. He had long been opposed to the measures, yet his own words

“I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists,” a repentent Obama said.

All very well, but this President will now be remembered as the President who, in effect, eliminated the right of habeas corpus. He essentially promised not to utilize these powers himself. But then again, he had also promised not to sign this bill into law, either. So one has to wonder if this is yet another promise

Obama is not Bush, but on too many levels, they resemble each other more and more. This act confirmed my own personal, increasingly low opinion of President Obama. At the heart of it, he is a self-serving politician looking for the right photo opportunities, literally and figuratively. He does not belong in the same breath as other great American leaders who actually worked hard to secure American liberties and to improve the standards of living for all. He is not George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Abraham Lincoln. He should not be compared with Franklin D. Roosevelt, or with Martin Luther King, Jr.. These were Americans who could see past popular sentiments at the time, and work to secure what was most important. They understood that it was not a populatiy contest, and that some things were more important than self-promotion. But they are increasingly dinsoaurs of a mythic, and historically inaccurate, viewing of the past. They are relics of a bygone era. Now, we have Presidents who, as a rule, make secretive, backdoor deals with shady corporate interests. “Special interests”, indeed.

No, we do not have those prominent figures that we were blessed with in the past. Now, we have mediocrity. Now, we have George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as our freedoms and, indeed, our very way of life, as well as the standards of our lives, are slowly but surely being lowered every day, and with each new election cycle. Funny, but prior to the 2000 election, I hardly felt it mattered if Bush or Gore won, because they would largely be the same thing. After eight long years of seeing Bush's arrogant smirk, I felt sorry for my easy dismissal. Now that we have had a Democrat in office, however, I return to that former position of dismissal. Whether Obama wins in 2012, or whether it's Romney or Paul or Santorum, the results will almost assuredly be to the detriment of the American people, and more attacks on our liberties and way of life. That is what happens when individual liberties have to make way for “special interests”. That is what happens when both parties promote corporate supremacy above all else. That is what happens when we, the American people, allow it to happen.

That's right, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. I am so tired of people talking about corrupt politicians and the criminals down in Washington, when they themselves don't care about the country enough to actually pay attention to what is happening, or to even attempt to see beyond their own prejudices. Waving the flag and loudly proclaiming American superiority is not enough to qualify as a patriot. Actually caring enough about the country to work hard to understand and take informed positions – popular or not – is the bare minimum, I think. Too quickly, American divorce themselves from responsibility for what we have become as a nation, and mock the very politicians that they elect into office. But we, the Aerican people, are responsible. Politicians are our public servants, not the other way around. Yet, the political process these days have become amockery, and everybody knows it, everybody is disgusted by it.

I did not vote for Obama in 2008, and have no intention of doing so in 2012, either. Nor did I vote for McCain. I try not to vote for Democrats or Republicans, in general, in fact. Yet, I am told by many, often angrily, that the only real choice is between one of the two major parties. That doing anything else is, in effect, throwing away my vote.

I beg to differ. Seeing the state of affairs in this country, and knowing that, no matter what, one of the two parties, Democrats or Republicans, are in power, leads me to feel that voting for them is voting for more of the same. That, in my opinion, is the true definition of throwing away a vote. So, I intend to do what I have done for many years now – vote for somebody else. Vote not for candidates that put party politicsna dn perosnal ambitions ahead of what's best for the country, but a real grass roots movement that does not have strength of numbers, but can at least boast strenght of convictions. Try saying that of the two major parties.

Maybe we should start calling the political process by what it really is– not an election cycle, but an election circus.

I started this post with a quote, which is rare for me. But I think I will end it with a reminder about who's really to blame for the mess that we are in. It was expressed a long time ago but, like the rights that we had long cherished, has a resonance that remains after all of these years, even centuries. It is as true today as when it was first expressed, and serves as a reminder not only of who is ultimately responsible for what happens to a country, but also, who ultimately pays the highest price.

“Every nation has the government it deserves.”
(“Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite.”)
- Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821)