Monday, February 11, 2013

Why am I not hearing nearly as much about this blatant violation of the Constitution?

The fifth amendment guarantees due process before any deprivation of life, liberty, or property for any person (not American citizen - although many people seem to get differentially concerned about American citizens).

So why is it that facebook and every other social media site I frequent has been clogged up with people complaining about the president prosecuting a war against enemies of the United States (which he does have Constitutional authority to prosecute) and I've only seen one or two mentions of the pursuit of Chris Dorner and the LAPD's apparent understanding that they have the authority to act as judge, jury, and executioner (and against the wrong people at that)?

This is a violation of the Constitution.

The president ordering a strike on a known al Qaeda member and the death of that known al Qaeda member's son during a strike on another known al Qaeda member is not.

What's so frustrating about America today is that the people who yap so much about the Constitution and liberty are generally lost when it comes to actually applying it. Yes, the president can command military operations. Yes, the Congress can appropriate money for the general welfare.

Even when they're right (for example, that torture is unconstitutional) they always seem to get side-tracked (but there is absolutely nothing unconstitutional about having a military prison on a beach in Cuba - and yet we always seem to be talking about the military prison on the beach in Cuba and not torture).

It's not that they disagree with me on cases like Dorner - real, actual violations of the Constitution. They almost surely agree with me on those cases. What's frustrating is that they spend so much energy trying to wrap their more pressing political concerns in the Constitution and the philosophy of liberty and accusing anyone that takes a different position of statism, fascism, etc.

Comments closed on this one, guys - just my thoughts for your consumption.