Issue #10
June 2002
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Commentary It's official: we are now a banana republic. All the criteria have been met: an ever widening gap between rich and poor; a concentration of wealth and power into fewer and fewer hands; an exaltation of the military; the establishment of a pervasive state security apparatus; and now the claimed right of the government to 'disappear' a citizen. Add to this the policy of 'preemptive attack' on foreign nations, the repudiation of treaties deemed inconvenient, and the refusal to join or support international organizations that might provide a check to any US action, and you have the picture of an administration that recognizes no limits to its power.
At the beginning of the Bush administration, we worried about the President's incompetence, ignorance and lack of depth. We also worried that he might turn out to be a puppet in the hands of his senior staff. We are no longer worried about such trivial matters, although our worst fears have proven true. Now we worry about a "permanent war", declared by the President and only over when he says so, justifying the scrapping of all Constitutional checks and balances.
The most dangerous and worrisome action has been the arrest and sequestration of an American citizen, without charge, until the end of the "war on terrorism." Denied access to lawyers, forbidden to speak to anyone or communicate with anyone other than his jailors, Yaser Esam Hamdi has, in effect, been disappeared, as have hundreds of non-citizens whose immigration status is in question, but who are being held incommunicado and whose cases appear on no docket or register of the INS. Despite a ruling in his favor in Federal court, the Bush Justice Department refuses to back down, and is appealing, having convinced the Appeals Court to stay the lower court's ruling pending disposition of the appeal.
When "antiterrorism" measures reminiscent of a dictatorship were first proposed by the Attorney General, he attempted to calm the subsequent outcry from both left and right by asserting that these measures were to be used only against foreign nationals who were at war with the US. There was no danger to our Constitutional protections, because these only applied to citizens, and citizens did not come under the contemplated measures. We now know he lied. American citizens are every bit as much in danger; if it suits the Administration, anyone can be disappeared, secretly held, and denied access to lawyers and the courts, for as long as it pleases the President and his minions, based on their say-so alone.
The really scary thing is that Bush, Ashcroft et al seem to have no inkling that what they are doing could destroy this republic far more effectively than any number of terrorists flying passenger jets. They have no idea why the Constitution limits power they way it does; it seems to them to be an inconvenience much of the time, rather than the foundation of our liberties. And it is scary to think that we are relying on the Rehnquist court to be our ultimate protector.
There is a segment of our population (mostly fundamentalists) that hungers for monarchy and will see nothing wrong in what Bush and his cronies are doing. It is up to Liberals and Libertarians alike to make sure that we remain free.
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