When the Founders of this once great nation were writing the Constitution, they made duly sure that checks and balances were put in place because they had a firm knowledge that these checks are necessary for our nation to remain free and our government to remain unabusive of their power. Because our government has increasingly and blatantly disregarded most of these checks and balances, our rights are being infringed upon ever more frequently. Our basic civil liberties, as well as our god-given natural rights, are constantly under attack by the very powers of government that are meant to protect them.
One of the most unconstitutional legislation to be passed through this unchecked and unbalanced government is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which places investigations and interrogations of domestic terrorism into the hands of the military and exposes anyone, including American citizens, to be indefinitely detained so long as the government decides to call that individual a terrorist. This does not simply apply to us because the Act includes detention of American citizens. It applies tremendously to each of us, because it is extremely vague and any citizen could easily be called a “domestic terrorist” for any number of reasons ranging from storing food to owning a gun to being a constitutionalist. In all simplicity, if the government decides they have a reason to think that you are indeed a terrorist, or even if they suspect that you are involved in anything related to terrorism against the United States, you can be sentenced to imprisonment for life without trial. Two Senators, by the names of Rand Paul and Al Franken stated that this bill “denigrates the very foundations of this country.” and “puts every single American citizen at risk.” As you can see, this bill is not to be taken lightly. It is an attempt to strip away some of our most basic rights and freedoms. It is making it possible for the government to call me a terrorist for writing this paper and then to proceed to lock me up and throw away the key.
In the words of Al Franken,
“...it contains provisions on detention that I find unacceptable … The bill that came before the Senate today still includes several troubling provisions, the worst of which could allow the military to detain Americans indefinitely, without charge or trial, even if they’re captured in the U.S. What’s more, provisions like these could ultimately undermine the safety of our troops stationed abroad … Today is the anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, and this wasn’t the way to mark its birthday.”
He is completely correct. The Founding Fathers surely had not taken the time to create those checks and balances and to write a carefully worded Bill of Rights to have them trampled upon by legislation like the NDAA. Cleon Skousen stated that our Founders believed that “Those rights ... came directly and exclusively from God. Therefore, they were to be maintained sacred and inviolate.” James Madison, in The Federalist Papers, No. 47, stated that “The accumulation of all powers … in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many … may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” George Washington felt that this separation of powers into the three branches of our government with it's checks and balances was the genius of the American system of government. The issue at stake is that we have not been able to maintain it. The proper role of government is to protect those rights, not infringe upon them. The ignorance not only of the representatives in office, but of the citizens of our country when it comes to these checks in our system of government today is what makes the passing of legislation like the NDAA possible. It is so incredibly vague that, in many ways, the government now has control over every citizen of the United States. They have placed a great fear upon those of us who have studied it and a great ignorance over those who have not. Does it not seem that things like this bill have been a little under-the-radar, and kept on “the down low”? Personally I have not come across many individuals who have even heard of the NDAA or what it's about. I feel that the reasons for this are the many distractions that the media and the government have placed in our path, such as the problems with our national debt and Occupy Wall-Street. This is not to suggest that these are not important problems, but when our civil liberties are at stake I would hope more people would pay it due attention. In the words of a commentor on an article by E.D. Kain,“why aren’t more people educated about this? We need to be. We should not be worrying about occupying wallstreet, taxes, or [whatever] else. Instead every one needs to be educated on what’s going on with [the government] taking away our basic rights [as] Americans.” On the flip side, some people have noticed, and are speaking out against it. American citizens are not the only ones becoming anxious because of this new law. A UK-based newspaper titled The Guardian described this piece of legislation as allowing indefinite imprisonment “without trial [of] American terrorism suspects arrested on US soil who could then be shipped to Guantánamo Bay;” An Arabic news network by the name of Al Jazeera has written that the NDAA “gives the US military the option to detain US citizens suspected of participating or aiding in terrorist activities without a trial, indefinitely.” These opinions were concurred with by other news networks such as The New York Times and Voice of Russia, who compared the Act to legislation passed by the Third Reich (or Nationalist Socialist Party) during their rule in Germany.
As I had stated previously, many citizens of this nation haven't a clue what the NDAA is or how it could affect their lives. Most people do not seem to realize the personal danger that looms over them until it hits them hard enough to knock them to their senses. So instead of looking back after you've been detained for unjust reasons, why not educate yourself and others on the subject now before it personally and directly applies to you? As Cleon Skousen has said, “The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the people.” Just as we are currently trying to stop legislation like SOPA and Protect IP, we can and should put an end to the NDAA before it becomes a permanent and shameful mark in our nation's history. Study intensely on the subject and spread the word to other American citizens. There is still hope that the people of this great nation value their civil liberties more than a “security” that is ultimately self-destructive. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
