My mind is still trying to cope with the new reality we were shown yesterday, when the President of the United States announced that he has been breaking the law and setting up a system of secret prisons where people are tortured, and the American people shrugged their shoulders and turned back to reading the TV Guide, to see what new shows would be coming up with the Fall television season.
It seems too big, too monumental to be really happening. It’s not an easy thing to watch a nation as big as the United States of America fall apart.
Yet, I can grasp this little nugget of insanity: In the new America, you don’t have the right to confront your accusers any more. In the America brought to us by George W. Bush, the courts will now allow prosecutors to use secret evidence against people accused of crimes.
Right now, Congress is considering legislation that, as Anthony Romero of the ACLU explains, “would allow a person to be convicted based on secret evidence”.
I want you to imagine what a trial like this would look like if you were accused. The prosecution would say that you committed a crime. You’d say that the government has to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecution would then say that they have such proof, and they’ll show it to the judge, but not to you, and not to the jury, because the proof is secret.
The last thing that the Bush Administration “proved” with secret evidence was that Saddam Hussein had massive stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction that were capable of reaching the United States. Now, President Bush wants to bring the same low standards of proof to our criminal justice system.
Government spying against American citizens. Your phone records and email messages scanned. Secret prisons without basic habeas corpus rights. Torture. And now, trials where people are convicted on the basis of secret evidence that no one ever gets to see.
Put the picture together, America. Don’t you see what’s happening?
No, of course you don’t. You’re busy, getting ready for the season premier of House on FOX TV.
Gee, does anyone remember this?
Probably not. Very few people actually read the Bill of Rights these days.
Sadly, I think you’re right, Damen. I don’t think many people do read the Bill of Rights anymore.
On another blog today, I had someone tell me in all seriousness that the Constitution only protects American citizens.
Our country is in sad shape because of people who spend more time waving the flag than learning about the actual foundations of American freedom. I think that some really believe that it’s the flag, and not the Constitution, that keeps us free.
Remember when you studied the French Revolution back in high school and the French aristocracy had those “letters of cachet” that meant anyone with money could sign a secret piece of paper and have someone poor or just someone they didn’t like locked up in the Bastille forever?
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about things like that quite a bit lately, Alan. A whole lot is happening, and it’s happening very fast, and I fear that we are not very far from the situation getting out of control. George W. Bush is a fearful man, and it’s becoming clear to him that unless something radical is done, he’ll lose control of the government over the next few months, and could become vulnerable to imprisonment as a result of his crimes. He believes he’s on a mission from God. Will he allow himself to lose power?