Shame On You, Mr. President

January 5th, 2012 by csdaley

I have taken a long sabbatical away from writing about politics. I had gotten to a point where everything was just driving me insane thinking about it. With my weight gain, my blood pressure was way up and I was sure I was about to blow a gasket at any point. Well, now that the weight is coming off and the blood pressure has dropped to a nice lovely number (120/76) I figure I can chance dipping my toe into it with out worrying about looking like a rejected extra from the Scanners movie.

For those of you who are relatively new to my blog, a brief explanation of my political views. I think there are three kinds of politicians. Those who I remain neutral towards. Those who I dislike a lot and those who I think should be assigned to the 7th level of Dante’s Inferno. To be honest the third option is where I place most of the blowhards.

I have been relatively neutral on President Obama. He hasn’t been anything special. He certainly hasn’t been the greatest thing since sliced bread, which is what the demopublicans promised he would be. He’s done some things I liked. Some I didn’t and some that made me wonder if he had taken his grouchy pills before getting out of bed. Nothing which had caused a raging mad on. I remained indifferent to his general existence.

Until last week that is. Last week he signed the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) into law after threatening to veto it. He did this while saying he had “serious reservations.” I guess this was supposed to make us think, “Gee, this guy really cares.” And by really cares I mean he is willing to look the other way like some Pontius Pilate as congress (and him) strip away personal freedoms.

The law allows the United States to detain without charges or a trial people who they deem as a threat to our national interest. And by detain I mean keep indefinately in whatever hole we want to drop them down. These people do not have to be captured in an armed conflict (which is against international law by the way). We can just pluck them right off the street. No charges or trial people. We don’t have to prove a damn thing. Which, as far as I am concerned, makes us no better than any other country we critizie for human rights violations.

Now, I know some of you are sitting around wondering why you should care. I get it. Our country has done a great job keeping you afraid. The terrorist boogeyman hiding in the closet is way spooky. How is this for scary. The law has no geographic limitations. This means they can snatch up a US citizen off of US soil and hide them away forever. No charges, no trial, no problem.

Our idiot politicians wring their hands and say they would never do that but they already have at least once (that we know of under President Bush). You can bet your first born child if the law allows them to and they want to, they will. No question about it.

This is a shameful law and should have been vetoed in its current form. It tramples all over our personal freedoms and takes another step closer into becoming the type of government we say we hate. We have forgotten that every time we take away a personal freedom. Every time we act like a bully and a tolitarian because we are afraid of what terrorist might do. We have let them win. We have let other countries and other people (nasty and evil people) dictate who we are. We become what they have been trying to convince the world we are.

Shame on you Mr. President. You had a chance to be bold. You had a chance to stand up for all people. Instead you were just another coward. Bowing to political pressure. Proving what I always feared, you’re just another bozo in a suit. You don’t have to worry about your daughter getting snatched up because you are not another plebeian like the rest of us anymore. I want to feel safe but not at the cost of what makes our country great.

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