WHETHER WE ARE CITIZENS OR NOT!!!
At least not legitimately.
I originally posted this as a comment to this diary about the NDAA, but it was posted deep into the comments, and so I thought I'd re-post as a diary as I think the emphasis on the detention of "U.S. citizens" under the NDAA is misguided and fundamentally misunderstands the nature of our system of government, and of the nature of our rights as human beings.
I DO NOT GIVE A FUCK that U.S. citizens are now "under the gun" pursuant to Section 1031 in the recently passed, not yet signed, National Defense Authorization Act for 2012. Our government does not have the right to detain anyone without due process, citizens or not. Here's the Fifth Amendment to our Constitution:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
In relevant part: No person . . . shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
There's nothing in there about "U.S. citizens", nor should there be. Our government is prohibited in the Constitution from depriving any person of their life or liberty without due process of law, citizen or not. A "person" equals human.
The fact that U.S. citizens have been detained without charge and targeted for assassination only indicates just how far beyond its legitimate powers our government has gone. Our government does not have the right to do this to anyone, anywhere. Again to our founding documents, this time the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Again, no mention of "U.S. citizens" there. All men are protected. I.e., humans.
And to be clear: according to our Declaration of Independence, Congress passing a law and the President signing it DOES NOT THEREBY DEPRIVE us of these rights. These rights are held by us inherently by virtue of our status as human beings, and no government can take them away. The government can fail to recognize those rights, but in failing to do so, they call into question our "consent" to their own legitimate right to rule us.
I am 1000 times more afraid of living in a world where my fellow citizens can, without due process, be targeted for assassination by my own government than I am of dying randomly in an act of terrorism.
And let's be real about the end point here. If the President already has the power outside of U.S. jurisdiction to not only detain U.S. citizens, but also target them for assassination, and this law transfers anti-terrorism powers that previously only applied overseas to the "homeland", that means that the legal ground has been established for our President to order the assassination of suspected terrorists residing right here in the United States. In theory, the U.S. government could assassinate a "suspected terrorist" in his home in Anytown, U.S.A., and there would be nothing that anyone could say about it. Whatever evidence might or might not exist against that person would be a "state secret", and that would be the end of it.
That should be truly terrifying to anyone who believes in human rights.
