For the South Carolinians
Ok, so here is a political one just for all you people in South Carolina (and everyone else in the US). The Supreme Court has the sole purpose of making sure that laws passed by congress are legal and sound as defined by the Constitution. They recently did their job in overturning a part of the Military Commissions Act and the Detainee Treatment Act, in which the right of Habeas Corpus was taken from anyone the state deemed an enemy combatant. At the moment, that term specifically applies to various individuals being held at Guatanamo Bay because of presumed association with Al Queda. It is important to note though, that nothing is keeping them from expanding who that applied to, including American citizens.
Today, one of South Carolina’s representatives to US Congress, Lindsey Graham, vowed to do anything needed, including amending the constitution, to change the Supreme Court’s ruling. His exact quote from the linked article was,
“The American people are going to wake up tomorrow and be shocked to hear that a member of Al Qaeda has the same constitutional rights as an American citizen,” said Graham.
“[Even] the Nazis never had that right.”
This is a false statement on several accounts. First, we aren’t talking about giving them all the same rights. They aren’t getting a right to vote, or even necessarily a trial by jury. We are talking about them having a right to eventually end up on trial. You might recall that some pretty bad stuff has gone down at the expense of the Guatanamo Bay detainees. Without habeas corpus, they have no way of seeking escape from what is essentially torture. Keep in mind, that since they have never been to trial, they could possibly be innocent. It is interesting that, Graham brings up the Nazis, because they give us the perfect example of why this should matter to us, even if the affected individuals are members of a terrorist organization. All rational people today condemn the Nazis for the state they got their country to, but that didn’t happen overnight. I am sure you have all heard the poem that starts with “When they came for the Communists, I remained silent. I was not a communist.” and ends with “When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.” Do we really want to end up with a new version of that poem that starts with “First they came for Al Qaeda. I remained silent.”
I am certainly not trying to call Senator Graham a nazi or that he is intentinally doing anything wrong, but during all the years of education that I receieved, I was told that the real reason to learn history was best summed up by George Santayana “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” By all means, let Senator Graham know a right first afforded to people in the Magna Carta hundreds and hundreds of years ago should apply to everyone, or don’t be surprised when find yourself in a similar situtation.