"So this is how democracy dies - to the sound of thunderous applause."
It's ironic that I should quote a movie that I always viewed as brain candy - namely "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" - because the words of Natalie Portman's character say a lot about what our country is becoming.
The Military Commissions Act denies habeas corpus - a legal institution that is a foundation of human rights - to anyone whom the government has determined is "properly detained" as an enemy combatant or who is "awaiting such determination."
Under the bill, an "unlawful enemy combatant" can include anyone whom the administration has determined to have "purposefully and materially" aided terrorists.
The bill protects the CIA from war crimes prosecution and allows the president to decide what methods can legally be used, according to a Sept. 27 Associated Press article.
According to Amnesty International, human rights violations the United States has committed against terrorism suspects have included secret detention, indefinite detention without charge or trial, arbitrary detention and prolonged incommunicado detention.
In effect, the bill codifies as law the disregard for due process and human rights that the Bush Administration has shown all along.
Unfortunately, Americans have become so complacent and fearful - especially in recent years - that news of the bill seems to have passed largely unnoticed.
It's easy to try and rationalize the bill. After all, it's only foreign terrorists who are losing their right to habeas corpus.
But the detainee bill comes from the same group of people who, under the guise of "conservatism," gave us warrantless wiretaps, the No-Fly List and the USA PATRIOT Act. These are the same people who, true to the words of Hermann G+â-¦ring, "denounce the pacifists for - exposing the country to danger"; according to the Associated Press article, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., accused opponents of the detainee bill of "coddling terrorists."
I don't think it will be long before these guys try and extend the human rights travesties enshrined in this bill to the American people. This is one of those situations in which the "slippery slope" is not a logical fallacy.
I have to ask: What is happening to this country? I really think that the Bush Administration is trying to undermine democracy in America.
What the Bush Administration and fellow travelers in the other branches of government seem to be creating can't be called fascism because that term doesn't quite describe it. Rather, it looks like a mixture of four things: gradual erosion of democratic institutions; concentration of power in the executive branch; legislation of fundamentalist Christian social conservatism; and neo-liberal economic policy that benefits the wealthy while gutting the middle class, ignoring the poor and allowing public infrastructure to crumble.
Or do you think the fact that you can't get out of Muncie without a car is a sign that we live in a well-off country?
As fuel, this all runs on the American people's fear and complacency. That's why so many Americans are willing to swallow it. Unless it adversely affects Americans' ability to bask in consumer bliss, they probably won't do much about it.
To much of the American public, "freedom" means the ability buy this, buy that, make a stop at the food pavilion and then buy some more. It means the ability to express an opinion, as long as that opinion agrees with official policy.
You may now continue shopping. Have a nice day.
Alaric DeArment is a senior journalism major and writes 'The Dork Report' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Alaric at ajdearment@bsu.edu.
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