Cassandra

I don’t want to be a Cassandra, but I’m kind of alarmed.

I don’t like where Pres Bush has taken this country. I don’t like it that we now allow torture. I’ve always been proud that we had a higher standard, then say, the Nazis or the North Vietnamese. AG nominee Mukasey in his hearing refused to say that water boarding is torture, and also testified to an extremely broad version of executive power. The AG won’t be a check on unbridled presidential power as I was hoping.

The big justification is the war on terror. Well, that war will never be won. It will never end. If we allow the executive to do whatever he or she wants in the name of the war on terror, our democracy will be threatened.

I’ve been hanging on thinking that Pres Bush will be out of office soon, and that he probably can’t declare martial law and get away with it. I’ve also been assuming that a Democrat will be elected president, but that isn’t a sure thing. The scariest part is that pretty much all the Republican candidates are in complete agreement with Pres Bush’s policies. Romney; expand Guantanamo. Guiliani; we need to attach Iran, now. If one of these guys gets elected I’m afraid that Bush’s policies will continue.

The terrorists are winning, because of our over reaction to the perceived threat. Airports are miserable places. The government has suspended habeas corpus. American citizens can be snatched and held, without access to courts or counsel, even without telling anyone. Just like in South America, we can now have “disappeareds.” The government can wiretap at will.